Have your say: Pipis decimated

Juliane Chetham says Patuharakeke fear for the future of the pipi beds and the structure of Mair Bank off Marsden Pt. Photo / Michael Cunningham

After reading your article of Thursday, March 5, on the Mair Bank pipi beds, I wondered if the experts would include the Ngunguru River pipi beds in their investigations.

I have been picking pipis at Ngunguru since the 1980s and have never known the stocks to be so depleted. Some people think it's the number of people collecting them but this is not so.

The scarcity of them started mid last year and has just got worse. There are now acres of dead shells, proving the pipis have not been taken, just died for some unknown reason.

The change in the banks, at low tide, is just amazing. The banks are all moving downstream and the depth of soft sand building up is concerning.

Some wonder if it is caused by the clearing of forestry that is now allowing run-off.

I'd be happy to take anyone on a guided tour of the banks and show where they used to be, and where we could gather our quota of pipis without moving more than a metre.

L Spratt
Ngunguru

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