Racist threats amid accusations rockpools being stripped

Calls for Asians to be deported and threats of physical violence are among some of the latest social media comments aimed at people accused of stripping rockpools and breaching fishing rules.

On Saturday, at least a hundred people demonstrated at Army Bay in Auckland's Whangaparāoa for the protection of local rock pools, and residents earlier told RNZ that rockpools were being stripped bare of sea life - including shellfish, or any animal life that lives in the pools.

The term "bucket people" has been widely used on social media to refer to those accused of over-harvesting, and many have anecdotally pointed to tourism buses and visitors, blaming them for the depletion of the rockpools.

The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) said Whangaparāoa has a recreational fishing compliance rate of 93 percent between November 1, 2025, and January 5, with 14 non-compliance incidents across 189 inspections conducted in the period - four involved excessive taking of shellfish (cockles), seven were for undersized snapper, two involved illegal netsetting, and none involved tour buses.

Over the past week, more posts on the controversy have appeared on Facebook pages, targeting the Asian community - including one person who wrote they were prepared to give a few "knuckle burgers and black eye rings" to those breaking the rules; there have also been several posts calling for the gatherers to be deported.

Meanwhile, there have also been posts by rockpools protection advocates calling out the racist comments and urging people to focus on the environmental cause.

On Monday, fisheries minister Shane Jones pointed to what he called "unfettered immigration" when interviewed on the topic, and said he's seeking urgent advice from fisheries on the issues.

Asian New Zealanders nervous about racial tensions arising from rockpools issues

A Chinese New Zealander living near Whangaparāoa said he doesn't personally collect shellfish, but is worried about the rising tensions over the issue.

The man, who did not want to be named, said he's now nervous about taking his kids to the beach.

"Eventually we'll get targeted, like if we go to the beach, even if we don't bring the bucket, and we just relax on the beach, and people may come up and say something hurtful to me,

"My kids are going to grow up here in New Zealand, they're going to contribute to society, what are they going to feel like? They're going to be like 'I'm surrounded by people who hate us only because of our looks,'" he said.

The man said he's seen videos posted to social media by people filming the contents of people's buckets, and urging people to throw things back into the ocean.

He said he feels it violates people's private space and that the residents doing the patrolling shouldn't be behaving like law enforcement.

He said Asian communities are left with the blame when the government has failed to revise the limits on gathering shellfish.

A Wellington woman, who posted a photo of her Chinese husband holding a bucket of mussels on Facebook earlier this month, was shocked to see dozens of racist comments under the post.

The woman said the photo came from a family outing to the beach with her in-laws and kids, and the mussels collected came under the limit for seven people.

She said the post explained their awareness of gathering limits, but that didn't stop the abuse.

"It's just like, 'These Chinese people bring their family and hoard everything from New Zealand, they don't know the rules, they should be deported', those kinds of things," she said, noting that about one of five of the over 260 comments were hurtful.

The woman said her family hasn't been to the beach since the online abuse.

Rockpools protection advocate: no place for racism

Rockpools protection advocate Mark Lenton, who leads the "Protect Whangaparāoa Rockpools" group, said racism is not helpful to the cause and will not be tolerated on their Facebook page.

"There's no place for this uneducated bigotry, which only amplifies a lack of intelligence, and it's not a good look for the author.

"So look, we do not encourage it in any way, and any comments raised and deleted, and the author is banned," he said.

Lenton said such comments are the quickest thing that will undermine their credibility as a group.

He said he's been talking to gatherers at Army Bay and makes the point that even when people gather within the limits, the sheer volume of gatherers is causing problems for the marine ecology.

"We're really focused on an attitude change here, we're really trying to amplify conservation," he added.

Lenton said he estimates that on any given day at low tide during the weekends, there may be 100 to 300 gatherers on the beach.

Researcher of Asians in Aotearoa: "bucket people" trope dehumanizing

Auckland-based writer and researcher of Asian diasporas, Tze Ming Mok, said she's concerned that certain ministers in government may be more interested in whipping up division against a small minority than they are in constructively addressing the issue.

Mok said the term "bucket people" is creepy and is yet another racial slur being created, which dehumanises communities.

"The stereotype of the rapacious Asian stripping the coastlines is a trope and a stereotype that has been wielded against us since at least the early 90s, and the thing is that we have approached this issue in good faith, constructive ways before, by building relationships between new migrants, government, iwi and local communities so we can all learn and educate each other, and protect our ecosystems together," she said.

Meanwhile, Lenton said he didn't think the term "bucket people" was discriminatory.

"The term bucket people does not discriminate by age, by gender, nor by race.

"It is simply a collective term that accurately describes people who rape and pillage rock pools and coastal sea life to fill their buckets," he said.

Auckland-based university student of Chinese descent One Wang, who has an interest in researching the relationship between tauiwi and Te Tiriti o Waitangi, said the labelling and online bullying around the rockpools issues have diverted attention away from the environmental issue itself.

"At this point our focus should be on the whenua, on papatūānuku, and on moana, what people could help with is make information and education accessible to all people who interact with marine life, so they can do that responsibly," said Wang.

Wang said it's been devastating to see the environmental impacts on moana, but equally devastating to see how quickly blame has been directed at an entire ethnic group.

Ngati Manuhiri, whose rohe extends from Mangawhai to the Okura river mouth south of Whangaparāoa, has applied for a two-year ban on harvesting shellfish from the city's Eastern Coastline.

The minister is expected to make a decision next month.