Hauraki Gulf Alliance

Hands off my bottom!

Bottom trawling, scallop dredging and Danish seining are destructive fishing methods that have been ripping up the Hauraki Gulf seafloor for decades. Seafloor species and habitats are being decimated and whole ecosystems have disappeared. It’s a violation of our environment at the hands of a few.

Whether it’s fishing, snorkelling, diving, or taking a walk on the beach, we want future generations to experience an abundance of marine life and a healthy Hauraki Gulf. Which is why destructive, mobile bottom-contact fishing methods must go.

In 2022 LegaSea established the Hauraki Gulf Alliance, a diverse coalition of organisations coming together to fight for the removal of bottom trawling, Danish seining and scallop dredging from the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park – stretching from Te Arai, Bream Bay to Waihi Beach.

The Alliance is supported by more than 100 businesses and organisations, including LegaSea, the New Zealand Sport Fishing Council, Royal Forest & Bird Protection Society (Forest & Bird), WWF-New Zealand, Environmental Defence Society, the Environment and Conservation Organisations of New Zealand, NZ Underwater Association, Greenpeace Aotearoa, NZ Angling & Casting Association and Yachting New Zealand.

Together the Alliance collected more than 36,000 signatures from concerned Kiwis urging the Minister for Oceans and Fisheries to ban these destructive fishing methods from the Marine Park. On 22 June 2023, the Alliance presented the petition to parliament.

On 30 August 2023, Fisheries NZ proposed 4 Options that would allow bottom trawling, dredging and Danish seining to continue in the Hauraki Gulf. The proposal confined trawling into ‘trawl corridors’ – areas that are currently fished with trawling and Danish seiners. The status quo.

This wasn’t good enough. In response to the trawl corridor proposal, LegaSea and the Hauraki Gulf Alliance advocated for Option Zero the only appropriate and lawful choice. Option Zero means no bottom trawling, Danish seining and dredging in the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park.

More than 10,000 Kiwis submitted in support of Option Zero using LegaSea’s online submission form.

A Horizon Research Poll* revealed that 84% of Gulf residents want these fishing methods banned form the Marine Park for good, yet shockingly they are being allowed to continue.

* Horizon Research November 2021

On 6 November 2023, LegaSea, the New Zealand Sport Fishing Council, NZ Underwater Association and NZ Angling & Casting Association jointly submitted in support of Option Zero. You can read our submission here.

After a year and half of waiting, Shane Jones, Minister for Oceans and Fisheries confirmed on 12 May 2025 that the trawl corridors will not proceed – bottom trawling and Danish seining can continue in the Hauraki Gulf for the foreseeable future. Jones claimed in a Newsroom Article that “it’s likely another government in another time will pick it up”.

If we can’t ban trawling from the country’s largest Marine Park, what hope do we have of removing it along the rest of our coastline?

The fight is not over.