This isn’t the start of the scallop season we ever hoped for – but hopefully it’s the start of a wake-up call. Come Sunday 1 September, you won’t find scallops on the east coast of New Zealand. The beds are barren, overfished to the point of collapse, and now closed to both commercial and recreational harvest. But don’t hang up your festival hat just yet; the Whitianga Oceans Festival is still on, even if scallops are off the menu.