Thousands of pāua and other sea life have washed ashore in Otago over the last week, but advice to leave them alone has gone ignored.
Waitati resident Cassie Hailes said she saw thousands of dead fish washed ashore at Whareakeake, or Murdering Bay, near Dunedin on Monday afternoon. She said many of them had been partly devoured by birds, but others were dying slowly in the shallows.
“It was quite distressing to see all those fish and not be able to help them,’’ she said.
Meanwhile, Carol Beattie found thousands of dead and dying pāua at Kaka Point last week. She said it was not unusual to find dead pāua on the beach, “but the magnitude of this one is the biggest I’ve ever seen”.
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Thousands of pāua washed ashore at Kaka Point, in the Catlins, following a period of wild weather.
In 2016 and 2013 there were similar incidents of pāua washing up along Kaka and Nugget Points due to natural events.
Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) regional manager for fisheries compliance Garreth Jay said his team had taken samples of the pāua to send off for testing.
In a written statement, he said the event was likely weather related.
Cassie Jane/Stuff
Hundreds of dead fish have washed up on the beach at Whareakeake (also known as Murdering Bay or Murdering Beach) in Dunedin.
“Pāua are affected by fresh water, and we have seen heavy rainfall and easterly sea conditions lately that could have pushed more fresh water out from the Clutha River into coastal waters.”
He advised people against gathering or eating any of it in the meantime. A spokesperson for MPI said it was due to food safety reasons.
Carol Beattie/Supplied
Local resident Scout sniffing some pāua, which MPI has asked people not to collect while they undergo testing.
Despite this, people have been collecting the pāua over the last few days, to the annoyance of Beattie and other locals.
Pāua are Aotearoa’s native sea snail and are significant to customary food gathering for Māori, like for manaakitanga ki ngā manuhiri, or the hosting of visitors.
Typically, people could only catch 10 per day. According to MPI’s website, the maximum any one person can have at home or in their possession at any one time is 20 pāua, or 2.5kg of shucked pāua.
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