Locals fear dune destruction at Ninety Mile Beach as summer arrives

The dunes behind 90 Mile Beach are littered with ancient middens, but they might not last much longer.

Waimanoni man Laurie Austen has good reason to anticipate the peak summer holiday season with trepidation.

The destruction of kaimoana, NZ dotterel nests and chicks, and historic sites on and around Far North beaches was an ongoing daily reality, he said, but climaxed in an "orgy of automotive madness" over the holiday period.

"The majority of the damage is probably the result of a lack of understanding. At least one would hope so," Mr Austen, who has devoted much of his adult life to protecting the marine environment and the life its supports, said last week.

"Every tuatua and every toheroa begins its life as a minute, incredibly vulnerable shellfish in the upper tidal areas of 90 Mile Beach, the area where the majority of driving takes place.

Driving in a straight line appears to have limited detrimental effects in comparison to the massive mortality of juvenile shellfish caused by wheelies, burnouts and swerving arcs.

"Driving into the dunes accelerates the already increasing rate of erosion, and destroying historic sites such as middens is thoughtless beyond words. Endangered dotterels also nest in this area.

"We live in a unique area of beauty and marine bounty, but everyone needs to protect it for future generations and show the maximum of restraint when gathering seafood. In the past excess taking was often the result of the belief that the ocean was some bottomless pit of kaimoana. This is no longer the case. Paua are a good example of a rapidly diminishing resource, and many other species are on the brink."