The Patuharakeke Te Iwi Trust Board has lodged a formal application under Section 186A of the Fisheries Act 1996, seeking a temporary closure of shellfish beds at Mair Bank, near Whangārei. The proposed closure covers approximately 1.46 square kilometres of fisheries waters, bounded by the Marsden Point Marine Terminal jetty and Whangārei Harbour channel buoys 18, 16 and 14.
Kaitiaki from Patuharakeke have been monitoring shellfish populations at the banks since 2015, and their findings paint a consistent picture: pipi and kūtai (green-lipped mussel) numbers remain far too low to support any sustainable harvest. A survey completed in February 2026, drawing on 86 separate locations across Mair Bank, confirmed the beds have shown no meaningful recovery. Conditions have worsened considerably in recent years, with the total pipi bed area contracting from around 30,000 m² to under 10,000 m² between 2020 and 2022. Repeated mass mortality events, some involving more than 5,000 pipi at a time, have continued to set back any progress toward recovery.
Not all signals from the monitoring programme point to decline. Kūtai have recently begun reappearing in the shallow lagoon near Channel Infrastructure, a development Patuharakeke regard as a positive tohu, or sign, of gradual repopulation taking hold. The hapū wants time to observe that recovery carefully before any harvest resumes.
The proposed two-year closure would also give Patuharakeke the opportunity to advance their Mātaitai Reserve application and carry out small-scale seabed survivability trials in partnership with NIWA.
Submissions on the application close at 5pm on Monday 18 May 2026. Email .
