Take it from Mark Lenton, a steadfast Army Bay resident who’s been documenting this carnage for years. As the founder of the Protect Whangaparaoa Rockpools group, Lenton has witnessed the transformation of vibrant intertidal zones into desolate wastelands.
“In the 1970s, you could gather as many cockles as you wanted within a few minutes,” he recalls. But now?
“The rocks around Whangaparaoa are completely bare. The only thing you’ll find in the rock pools is seawater after every tide.”
Lenton points the finger squarely at busloads of Chinese harvesters arriving with buckets, piano wire, and building tools, ravaging everything in sight, from tiny cockles no bigger than your thumbnail to kina the size of a Kinder Surprise egg. People have been threatened for daring to intervene, a chilling testament to the aggression fueling this destruction.
Lenton isn’t alone in his outrage. Local iwi, like the Ngāti Manuhiri Settlement Trust, are sounding the alarm. Chief executive Nicola MacDonald describes the damage as “extensive,” noting how the removal of shellfish from rockpools devastates marine life that may never recover.
“We’re concerned because coastal marine life plays an important role in healthy ecosystems, providing habitats and food for insects, small fish, and seabirds,” she says. “Taking and removing rock shellfish and stripping away pools is not part of New Zealand culture.”
Indeed, examples abound: Mussel rocks at Pākiri Beach now stand utterly devoid of life due to relentless scavenging.
Further afield, Ōmaha Beach resident Mary Coupe paints a similarly grim picture. She’s spotted families hauling away massive bowls brimming with minuscule sea snails, so small you could fit ten on your fingernail, and even starfish, creatures that serve no real culinary purpose but are yanked out anyway in a frenzy of overconsumption. Coupe advocates for making the Tiaki Promise mandatory for visa applicants and new citizens, urging a shift from “consumer mentality” to guardianship of our environment.
This isn’t a broad “tourist” problem; community reports and eyewitness accounts repeatedly highlight Chinese groups as the primary culprits, stripping everything alive with a ruthless efficiency that’s decimating our shores.
Social media buzzes with fury from locals who’ve had enough. Posts in groups like Protect Whangaparaoa Rockpools decry “Chinese/Asian people raping it all,” with one resident even producing a documentary on how Chinese harvesters are destroying New Zealand’s marine life.
Reddit threads echo this, identifying Chinese families as the “biggest offenders,” turning once-abundant beaches into barren rocks.
Even historical gripes trace back decades, though the scale has exploded in recent years, leaving ecosystems irreparably harmed.
Click to view
What galls most is the sheer hypocrisy. These invaders, often arriving in organized groups, treat our coastlines like an all-you-can-eat buffet, oblivious or indifferent to the fact that they’re obliterating food sources for seabirds, fish, and the very biodiversity that makes Aotearoa unique. Seaweed? Gone. Snails? Vacuumed up. Even the humblest creatures aren’t spared in this orgy of extraction. And for what? A quick meal or a black-market buck, while our native species teeter on the brink?
Fisheries New Zealand’s response? Pathetic. With just 21 full-time officers and 38 honorary ones patrolling Auckland, they boast a 94% compliance rate, laughable when rockpools lie empty and reports of illegal activity flood in.
They urge the public to call 0800 4 POACHER, but where’s the proactive enforcement? Where are the bans, the patrols, the cultural education for those who clearly weren’t taught marine conservation back home?
Residents like Lenton are forced into vigilante “Bay-watch” patrols, risking personal safety because the government won’t step up.
This isn’t xenophobia; it’s a desperate cry to protect what’s ours. If Chinese communities want to integrate, they must adopt our values, sustainability, respect for nature, and leaving enough for tomorrow. Until then, calls for rāhui like the one at Karekare Beach might actually be worth it, and visas should come with mandatory conservation pledges.
New Zealanders, it’s time to rally: Report, resist, and reclaim our raped rockpools before they’re lost forever. Our marine life deserves better than to be decimated by unchecked greed.
Matua Kahurangi is just a bloke sharing thoughts on New Zealand and the world beyond. No fluff, just honest takes. He blogs on https://matuakahurangi.com/ where this article was sourced.
“In the 1970s, you could gather as many cockles as you wanted within a few minutes,” he recalls. But now?
“The rocks around Whangaparaoa are completely bare. The only thing you’ll find in the rock pools is seawater after every tide.”
Lenton points the finger squarely at busloads of Chinese harvesters arriving with buckets, piano wire, and building tools, ravaging everything in sight, from tiny cockles no bigger than your thumbnail to kina the size of a Kinder Surprise egg. People have been threatened for daring to intervene, a chilling testament to the aggression fueling this destruction.
Lenton isn’t alone in his outrage. Local iwi, like the Ngāti Manuhiri Settlement Trust, are sounding the alarm. Chief executive Nicola MacDonald describes the damage as “extensive,” noting how the removal of shellfish from rockpools devastates marine life that may never recover.
“We’re concerned because coastal marine life plays an important role in healthy ecosystems, providing habitats and food for insects, small fish, and seabirds,” she says. “Taking and removing rock shellfish and stripping away pools is not part of New Zealand culture.”
Indeed, examples abound: Mussel rocks at Pākiri Beach now stand utterly devoid of life due to relentless scavenging.
Further afield, Ōmaha Beach resident Mary Coupe paints a similarly grim picture. She’s spotted families hauling away massive bowls brimming with minuscule sea snails, so small you could fit ten on your fingernail, and even starfish, creatures that serve no real culinary purpose but are yanked out anyway in a frenzy of overconsumption. Coupe advocates for making the Tiaki Promise mandatory for visa applicants and new citizens, urging a shift from “consumer mentality” to guardianship of our environment.
This isn’t a broad “tourist” problem; community reports and eyewitness accounts repeatedly highlight Chinese groups as the primary culprits, stripping everything alive with a ruthless efficiency that’s decimating our shores.
Social media buzzes with fury from locals who’ve had enough. Posts in groups like Protect Whangaparaoa Rockpools decry “Chinese/Asian people raping it all,” with one resident even producing a documentary on how Chinese harvesters are destroying New Zealand’s marine life.
Reddit threads echo this, identifying Chinese families as the “biggest offenders,” turning once-abundant beaches into barren rocks.
Even historical gripes trace back decades, though the scale has exploded in recent years, leaving ecosystems irreparably harmed.
Click to view
What galls most is the sheer hypocrisy. These invaders, often arriving in organized groups, treat our coastlines like an all-you-can-eat buffet, oblivious or indifferent to the fact that they’re obliterating food sources for seabirds, fish, and the very biodiversity that makes Aotearoa unique. Seaweed? Gone. Snails? Vacuumed up. Even the humblest creatures aren’t spared in this orgy of extraction. And for what? A quick meal or a black-market buck, while our native species teeter on the brink?
Fisheries New Zealand’s response? Pathetic. With just 21 full-time officers and 38 honorary ones patrolling Auckland, they boast a 94% compliance rate, laughable when rockpools lie empty and reports of illegal activity flood in.
They urge the public to call 0800 4 POACHER, but where’s the proactive enforcement? Where are the bans, the patrols, the cultural education for those who clearly weren’t taught marine conservation back home?
Residents like Lenton are forced into vigilante “Bay-watch” patrols, risking personal safety because the government won’t step up.
This isn’t xenophobia; it’s a desperate cry to protect what’s ours. If Chinese communities want to integrate, they must adopt our values, sustainability, respect for nature, and leaving enough for tomorrow. Until then, calls for rāhui like the one at Karekare Beach might actually be worth it, and visas should come with mandatory conservation pledges.
New Zealanders, it’s time to rally: Report, resist, and reclaim our raped rockpools before they’re lost forever. Our marine life deserves better than to be decimated by unchecked greed.
Matua Kahurangi is just a bloke sharing thoughts on New Zealand and the world beyond. No fluff, just honest takes. He blogs on https://matuakahurangi.com/ where this article was sourced.
8 comments:
Now, how will radical Maori react to this "carnage"? A hikoi to Parliament? A delegation of ferocious female lawyers to the UN?
Or... silence? Because the deal with China on Aotearoa resources has already been done by Tamihere and co. in Beijing (with Luxon informed later by Iwi behind closed doors)?
It hasn't only been the Chinese. The Filipino community has been guilty as well. In Wellington the coast has been trashed since the 70s but there it has been mainly the Pacific Islanders. But whoever it is, they take everything. A great way of appreciating their new country.
What a silly little country we have become harbouring 123 over paid politicians brimming with impotence as they fail to protect our coastline from Chinese immigrants plunderer our fragile foreshore. This is not new but has been going on for years with arrogant impunity.
I guess these vandals have worked out if Maori have been guaranteed customary fishing rights in Hauraki Gulf High Protection Areas under the Fisheries Act, they can clean out the rest.
21 full time officers in Auckland? While there's is an abundance of officers revenue gathering out on the roads. How about 50 more fishery officers, 500 more doctors? Something actually useful.
To Rob at 6.35pm: a world first whereby apathy, credulity and self- interest destroy a dynamic democracy. Tragic.
Do you think there’s a message here? If you import vast numbers of migrants who have no respect for, or knowledge of, national values you just might get behaviour that is totally unacceptable? Who would have thought?
Have witnessed. Rock pools were of great fascination to the young; now no more so than the local swimming pool. With the coast bare, and in Auckland tedious pathwys, entry to most of the bush forbidden, NZ has lost many of its attractions.
Not happening in New Zealand then? Only in a place called Aotearoa.
Post a Comment
Thank you for joining the discussion. Breaking Views welcomes respectful contributions that enrich the debate. Please ensure your comments are not defamatory, derogatory or disruptive. We appreciate your cooperation.