October 04, 2023
Starfish culprit in mussel mystery
A 14-year Māori-led research project into the near-extinction of kūkū – or traditional mussels – in the Ōhiwa Harbour, has found starfish and human land practices were to blame.
University of Waikato marine ecologist Kura Paul-Burke has been working with her whānau, hapu and iwi to study the prolem.
She says initially they thought the cause of the decline was sediment from a storm in 2005 or over-harvesting, until they found isolated beds away from human impact were doing fine.
“But areas where humans live close to the coast, and have run-off into the oceans, are also areas of high numbers of sea stars. Our paru – land practices – are negatively impacting the oceans. So we are the most destructive species on the planet – it’s us,” she says.
Professor Kura Paul-Burke says in July her team discovered a new bed with an estimated 16 million young mussels – which will be protected until they can grow and reproduce and be used to repopulate other areas..