Scallop season once opened on 1 September in the Coromandel. Today, the date is a stark reminder of what has been lost.

Decades of mismanagement, overallocation, and the destructive use of Victorian box dredges drove the Coromandel scallop fishery to collapse. It was only after sustained pressure from the local community, led by Ngāti Hei, that then Minister David Parker moved to close the fishery in 2022.