Asian MPs call for immigration to be left out of seafood gathering debate

Asian politicians on both sides of the aisle agree the debate over recent reports of excessive sea life gathering on New Zealand's foreshore should not focus on immigration.

Instead, Chinese MPs from the Greens and National called for more education to be provided so migrants understood why it was necessary to protect the marine environment.

Fisheries Minister Shane Jones told RNZ on Monday that mass immigration was partly to blame for sea life gatherers allegedly stripping the Whangaparāoa Peninsula foreshore bare.

He also noted that gathering activities had been organised on Chinese-language websites.

"The more you have unfettered immigration to New Zealand, the more threat there is to social cohesion and the established rules that we take as our basic culture," Jones said.

"There are threats to our seafood rock pool life from migrant communities not knowing the rules."

Green MP Lawrence Xu-Nan said Jones' New Zealand First political party held long-established anti-immigration views, accusing the minister of blaming migrants for the problem as an election campaign tactic.

"I think this is simply a distraction because when we're looking at the most harmful [activities] to our ... marine environment, it's industrial fishing, bottom trawling and seabed mining," Xu-Nan said.

"These are the things that a minister of fisheries, Shane Jones, should be focusing on and banning. But, instead, ... he's using racist rhetoric as a distraction to address the much bigger issue to our marine ecosystem."

Xu-Nan said sea life gatherers appeared to come from various ethnic backgrounds, and it was up to authorities to enforce the law or educate people if anyone was caught breaking any rules.

National MP Carlos Cheung said the topic was "more a fishery issue, not a migrant or immigration issue".

"I think everyone, no matter what [ethnicity] or ... what community you belong to, we all should work together to make sure New Zealand sea life is sustainable."

When asked about comments on social media pinpointing specific ethnic groups for excessive gathering, Cheung said it was not fair for an individual group to be singled out.

"It's very easy for individuals to try to blame someone or highlight a certain group, but ... that can be individual behavior that doesn't represent a whole community," Cheung said.

That said, he believed education would help migrants understand why the issue was important.

"It's important to have communication and education to make sure [migrants] know what's going on, and what reasons [lie] behind all this restriction or regulation," he said.

"Everyone does have the right to enjoy the beauty of New Zealand, but we need to make sure that it can be sustainable ... not only for us, but for our next generation."

National list MP Nancy Lu said she also didn't encourage people to view sea life gathering as an ethnic issue.

"It's not related to ethnic behavior or ethnic culture, activity or tradition," Lu said.

"It's more around the individuals who have taken actions and are now getting some feedback from other people who are locals."

Lu said people should refrain from using discriminatory language when discussing the issue.

"It's not about our ethnicity, or our background, not about our age or gender, but it's about New Zealanders in New Zealand. We should provide protection to our environment," she said.

"Anyone has a right to raise concerns, but everyone also has the right to explain the situation. And, together, I think we should be more motivated into protecting the environment than to be discriminating against or putting pressure each other based on race."

Ethnic Communities Minister Mark Mitchell, who is also MP for Whangaparāoa, agreed the debate should not focus on ethnicity but protecting the marine environment.

"It's incumbent on all Kiwis to be good custodians and do that," Mitchell said.

"Some people are choosing not to do that, and I support action to ensure our tidal rock pools and marine environment are protected for everyone to enjoy."

Responding to Xu-Nan's remarks, Jones told RNZ he was "dealing with the facts".

"The majority of the people scouring the rock pools are from the migrant community," he said.

"They are Asian. We need to educate and we need to cause people to understand they must embrace the culture of the host society," Jones said.

"New Zealand First has always had a doubting Thomas attitude to unfettered immigration.

"The more our demography changes, the more it's important that politicians ... remind all people seeking a new home in New Zealand that when in Rome, you do as the Romans do."

The Ministry for Primary Industries said fishery officers had been highly active in the Whangaparāoa Peninsula area undertaking patrols and found a compliance rate of 93 percent -- similar to a nationwide rate of around 94 percent.

The ministry said Fisheries New Zealand did not collect data on ethnicity of people who breached fishing rules.

Fisheries New Zealand has warned the public to check local fishing regulations before casting a line or gathering shellfish over summer after several people in Bay of Plenty were found recently with large quantities of green-lipped mussels.