‘They come with buckets, hammers’: New Zealand’s coastal foragers spark debate on free seafood, race

WELLINGTON – Along parts of Auckland’s coastline, the growing popularity of foraging for shellfish in fragile intertidal zones has ignited an increasingly bitter debate in New Zealand over conservation, migration and racism.

A contentious term has also emerged in local Facebook groups and community forums: “bucket people”, shorthand for those seen filling buckets with large quantities of marine life plucked from rock pools and coastal reefs.

Mark Lenton, a 55-year-old resident of Whangaparaoa, a seaside peninsula about 40 minutes north-east of central Auckland, began noticing a sharp increase in gatherers from late 2024, sometimes arriving in buses of 30 to 50 people.

On Boxing Day in 2025, he counted 200 people on a single beach and estimated that up to 10,000 cockles could have been removed in one day.

Even the seabirds that fed along the shore seemed to be disappearing, he said.

“They (the people) would come with buckets, hammers, chisels and even piano wire, taking as much sea life as possible from each rock pool,” he told The Straits Times.

It spurred him to start lobbying the local authorities, the central government and iwi (Maori tribe) leaders for stronger protection for the area. The banking industry executive formed the Protect Whangaparaoa Rockpools group in August 2025.

While Lenton said the phrase “bucket people” refers purely to behaviour and not ethnicity, it has increasingly become associated with ethnic Chinese migrants and tourists.

Locals said social media has contributed to the influx of visitors, enthusiastic about the idea of picking – and even setting up barbecues to cook on the spot – marine life such as starfish and cockles.

It is legal to do so if catch limits are followed.

On Chinese app RedNote, users share guides on where and how to beachcomb in New Zealand legally. Posts often feature maps, tide charts, fishing rules and photos of successful catches – barbecued oysters, steamed crabs, pan-fried abalone. 

Things came to a head when a demonstration was held in January by about 500 residents at Army Bay on the Whangaparaoa peninsula to protest against what they saw as ecological destruction unfolding in plain sight.

In response to the public outcry, the authorities imposed a two-year temporary closure from March, banning the gathering of shellfish and other marine species from the area’s rock pools. Breaking the rules can incur a fine of up to NZ$100,000 (S$75,000) and result in confiscation of the equipment used.

The closure marked a major victory for the campaigners.

But residents said the problem is not confined to Auckland’s east shore alone.

Harvesting pressure is also becoming increasingly visible along Auckland’s west coast beaches, said Luella Bartlett, 50, a company director and founder of environmental lobby group Protect Piha Rockpools.

“Harvesters aren’t one cultural group,” said Bartlett, a company director, 50, adding that they come from very diverse communities, including South-east Asia and the Pacific. 

Like Lenton, she said social media has turned previously quiet beaches into viral destinations.

“They advertise it as: Come to New Zealand for your free seafood buffet,” Bartlett said, referring to influencers and some tour operators.

Both Lenton and Bartlett said the term “bucket people” was never intended as a racial label, but rather to refer to anyone who destroys the rock pools with buckets and tools.

Nonetheless, the incidents have sparked racist reactions online, with even Fisheries Minister Shane Jones blaming the rampant harvesting on migrants.

Andrew Jeffs, a professor of marine science at the University of Auckland, said that in his chats with foragers from various communities, not just the Chinese, the differences in species that are targeted by different cultures have given the environmental debate an unhelpful racial tone.

He noted people from non-Western ethnic backgrounds tend to favour species that are not traditionally part of New Zealand seafood choices, such as limpets, sea stars, sea cucumbers, chitons and barnacles.

Fisheries New Zealand said it does not collect ethnic data when carrying out patrols or inspections.

Chinese leaders in New Zealand are cautioning against conflating a conservation issue with ethnicity.

National Party List MP Nancy Lu told ST that many Chinese New Zealanders would find the term “bucket people” hurtful and stigmatising.

While new immigrants and visitors may be unfamiliar with New Zealand’s conservation rules, the issue should be addressed through multilingual education across trusted community channels. 

Echoing the call for multilingual and accessible education, as fisheries rules can be complex, Kai Zeng, deputy chair of the Howick Local Board of Auckland Council, said: “It’s important that we keep the conversation focused on the actual problem rather than assumptions about particular communities.”

Auckland software engineer Jiang, 32, who asked to be identified only by his surname, said the “bucket people” label is easy to understand, but is worried that rampant beachcombing behaviour not only reinforces stereotypes about Asians exploiting natural resources without regard for conservation but also depletes marine life. 

“I get second-hand embarrassment and quite mad when certain people act in a way that keeps confirming a stereotype,” said Jiang.

More troubling, said the activists, is the rise of large-scale night-time poaching and black market sales across all ethnicities. Lenton said some groups now arrive after dark, carrying large commercial bins rather than buckets. 

“They’ve been selling it (seafood) on the black market through social media, WeChat direct messages or word of mouth, or directly to restaurants and takeaway shops,” he said.

Confrontations with bucket people have at times turned dangerous. Lenton said he has had a knife pulled on him twice while monitoring beaches, once by a man collecting with his young daughter and wife.

According to Fisheries NZ, the number of incidents of illegal harvesting is small, with a recreational fishing compliance rate of 94 per cent across Auckland, on a par with the national average.

Its acting regional manager of Fisheries Compliance North, Jodie Cole, told ST that fisheries officers have maintained a significant presence around Whangaparaoa since the closure came into effect in March, and have not found any non-compliance with the new rules in the area. 

Cole urged people gathering seafood to comply with fishing rules, regardless of whether they are gathering individually or as part of a tour group. 

But pressure is mounting for wider restrictions.

On May 6, Fisheries NZ launched public consultation on proposed new rules to widen the gathering ban at intertidal zones across the whole of Auckland and its adjoining Coromandel region and reduce the catch limits on all species outside the closure areas.

And the ecological stakes are high.

Jeffs explained: “The shoreline is a relatively narrow strip – not much bigger than a footpath in many areas. So it is easy for the small population of animals living on these strips to be harvested out by only a small number of people.

“When you have all the surrounding coastline being harvested of adults, it becomes even harder for them to make a comeback.” He noted that recovery can take years once breeding populations are removed.

Lenton believes current rules allowing generous catch limits are outdated. He also thinks enforcement remains inadequate, noting that fewer than 20 fisheries officers patrol 300km of coastline in Auckland. But Cole disagrees, saying officers are well-resourced and conduct regular patrols, including at night.

For Lenton, however, the end goal is clear.

“We want marine life to be like it was,” he said. “We want to take our grandkids to the beach and show them the things that we looked at when we were kids – the crabs, fish, starfish and the seabirds feeding their young.

“We want the oceans to be healthy because that’s what makes this country so special.”