James Williams
Scallops have become a rare sight on the sea bed in Nelson and Marlborough, following a dramatic decline in the population over the past 15 years.
Nearly five years after commercial scallop fishing was shut down in the top of the south, there are still few signs of life in what was a once-thriving fishery. In Tasman Bay and Golden Bay the sites of the old commercial scallop beds are effectively barren, with negligible amounts of scallops compared to historical levels. While there have been some more promising signs in the Marlborough Sounds, even there the road to recovery is expected to be long and slow.