Online attacks over event to teach kids about rockpools

An educational event was meant to teach children about marine life in rockpools. Instead, a misunderstanding led to online attacks and hatred.

The Sir Peter Blake Marine Education and Recreation Centre (MERC) hosted free tidepool explorations at Auckland's east coast beaches last month, including at the reef near Takapuna Beach. The Takapuna event on 14 June was attended by roughly 50 people.

A now-deleted Facebook post, which RNZ has seen a screenshot of, accused the Takapuna group of "pillaging" the rockpools.

While some people commented on the post to express concern or dissatisfaction, others made threatening comments directed at the event's participants.

One commenter said: "Hopefully they eat dodgy snails and get violently ill". Another said: "Kill them all."

RNZ has chosen not to repeat some of the comments.

Aman Kaur has taken her two daughters to several MERC events.

"I was looking for a nice day with the kids where we could connect together as a family and learn a few things.

"I'm a solo mum. I don't feel very confident around the sea myself. I'm okay to stay on the beach and take a walk around the beach. But going into the water or closer to tidepools, I don't feel very comfortable doing that on my own with the kids. But both the children love water, so I don't want to hold them back. I want them to be able to explore."

She said it was sad to see people got the wrong idea about what MERC was doing at the Takapuna reef.

"Someone could have just spoken to one of the coordinators or anybody at the event instead of making an assumption.

"MERC events are actually helping people not to overfish, and they're actually helping them learn what's okay to do and what's not okay to do."

MERC general manager Yuin Foong said the Facebook comments were "distressing" for the families who participated and their staff.

"It was posted on a fishing page, and then it was shared by an administrator of one of these rockpool pages, and it just took on a life of its own.

"The comments were saying, 'They can't go to Whangaparāoa, so they're coming down to Takapuna', when really it's a completely different community for a completely different purpose, and people are making a number of assumptions and getting really hostile.

"It's really scary that these people are directing those comments at what ultimately are kids learning and exploring rockpools."

A two-year ban on taking most sea life from intertidal zones, including rockpools, from the Whangaparāoa Peninsula and further north at Kawau Bay and Ōmaha Bay, has been in place since 12 March.

But there have been calls for that ban to extend to other coastlines.

Foong said enjoying rockpool life rather than taking it home was part of MERC's message.

"We were doing really good stuff.

"We had amazing kids and amazing parents from all sorts of backgrounds at our events, looking at what there is to see in the tidepools, how do we care for the species in them, why should we leave them behind? Just sparking that wonder, curiosity, care, and compassion for animals and creatures and the flora and fauna in the rockpools and how important they are for a healthy ocean."

He said they came across a family collecting from the rockpools near their Takapuna event, and they had a "friendly chat" about why harvesting was discouraged.

"One of our team had a bit of a yarn with them about why the species are really important and what we're trying to do."

But commenters on Facebook said someone should "call immigration" on the MERC group and "send them back to their country".

Foong said racist remarks he had seen in rockpool Facebook groups were frustrating and unhelpful.

"My lived experience of coming here as a migrant is that people embraced us into the New Zealand community, and I ended up being a really passionate conservationist.

"I'd like to think that the majority of people have care and compassion and put some time and energy into working with people rather than perpetuating a rhetoric that ends up in a combative response with people putting up walls and defending things.

"We're going to win over hearts and minds through compassion, understanding, education, and manaakitanga."

Mark Lenton, who moderates the Protect Whangaparāoa Rockpools Facebook group, said a post about the event - along with a photo of its participants - was shared in their Facebook group but he removed it within a few hours.

"We are sent footage of people who are supposedly depleting and decimating our rockpools.

"In this particular scenario, a member of the public had observed a large group who appeared to be pillaging the rockpools. This was just another example that we put onto our group. As soon as we were made aware that it was innocent, the post was removed.

"Unfortunately, this is just one of those things that happen in the height of the current climate. Ninety-nine percent of instances that we post are actual events of rockpool depletion and decimation, which must be stamped out."

He said he removed users who made inappropriate comments from their group.

"It's vile, it has no benefit. We are targeting the behaviour. We're targeting an outcome which preserves marine life for all New Zealanders."

Luella Bartlett from Protect Piha Rockpools, who also had a Facebook group, said she was confused about why MERC chose to do tidepool explorations at Takapuna Reef and Army Bay.

She assumed the events would be held at the Long Bay-Okura Marine Reserve where MERC is based.

"[MERC] were using beaches which are desperately trying to recover, some which aren't closed for harvesting yet, as part of their tidepool discovery, places which have been absolutely decimated by harvesters."

She said she understood why people responded negatively to MERC's events.

"People's reactions were as you would expect for communities that are watching the beaches they grew up on get devastated.

"Some of them were fairly vigilante, but the moderators in all [rockpool] groups are really proactive at taking down comments that are not respectful or helpful as fast as they possibly can when things like that happen.

"Families should be able to go to the beach and feel safe. That's absolutely number one.

"But at the same time, if we want ecosystems to recover, such as at Army Bay, do we really want to be taking 50 kids trampling through there and picking things up?"

Foong said they gave event participants ice cream containers.

"We put a little bit of water in and put a species in there, and the kids can get close to look. But then they can put it back. Everything goes back.

"It's actually really beautiful because we talk to the kids about what habitat would we take them from and how do we ensure we put them back into the right habitat? Because not all habitats are the same."

He said it was unfair to assume someone at the rockpools was harvesting just because they had a container, and where they chose to do tidepool explorations was considered and well thought out.

"Intertidal and rockpool species have to survive fully submerged and entirely uncovered, depending on the tide and weather conditions. This makes them remarkably resilient. Therefore, we don't believe there is any long-term harm to them as a result of an informed and guided short-term physical interaction with people.

"Engaging people with the marine ecosystem and fostering care and understanding is a good thing, especially in a robust intertidal habitat."

Bartlett said many people, including fishers, were on edge while waiting for legislation, as part of Fisheries review of recreational shellfish harvesting rules for Auckland.

"Fishers are seeing fisheries being shut down left, right and centre, losing access to so much, not just finfish, but also crayfish, pāua, and scallops, and all these things we're losing on our foreshores. So when people see big groups of people with buckets, the immediate reaction is outrage."

She said a full ban on harvesting from all intertidal zones was needed to give rockpools a chance at recovery.