On New Year’s Eve 2009, when I was visiting a friend, the Secretary of Chinese Conservation Education Trust texted me and asked me to call a reporter in Northland immediately. I did. The reporter told me, on one of the beaches in Northland, there were many, many Chinese crabbing. They did it within the law. The law allows everyone to take 50 crabs. However, with so many Chinese there, they might wipe out the crabs on the beach. The local people and the Maori were very unhappy. She asked me to comment.

I told her, I was sorry to hear that. Such massive collection of crabs would definitely have bad impact on the environment. It is also a threat to the sustainability of the ecosystem in the area. When CCET have the chance to contact the Chinese, we normally tell them to assure the abundance of species and to make sure the species are sustainable. Whenever they want to pick any marine animal on the beach, make sure there are 20 before taking 1. CCET’s objective is to educate the Chinese about conservation. We had had an “Ocean Day” in Auckland Zoo together with MFish, DOC and ARC, last month. We had over 80 people attended the day but with the large Chinese population in Auckland, it was just like a drop in the ocean. I hope that the government

can allocate more funding to support our educational campaign.

When I got home, I saw the Northland reporter’s email forwarded to me by the Chairman of NZCA. This email was also sent to CCET. The Chinese translation of the email is as follows :

Hello and kind regards,   There is an issue occurring in this region which has upset some local people. I was hoping for a comment from your association.  In recent days many hundreds of Chinese people have converged on (Name taken out to avoid people rushing to the place) beaches to collect paddle crabs. On Christmas Day there were an estimated 1000 people doing this. There have been complaints from other beach users, conservationists and local Maori people about the behaviour of many of the crab collectors, such as leaving rubbish - some of it dangerous - on the beach and their disregard of cultural and environmental values. There are also concerns that possibly as many as 50,000 paddle crabs have been taken from the beach by the collectors.  There is no suggestion this collection is illegal as any taker is entitled to take up 50 crabs, but there are concerns about the impact  of this huge onslaught on the resource. Maori in particular see it as an exploitation of a traditional kaimoana (sea food) resource. We understand the information these crabs are there for the taking has been circulated on Chinese language internet sites.   I hope you might be able to give us a statement on whether this kind of behaviour might be seen as damaging to the reputation of Chinese people in New Zealand. Does the association play a role in advising Chinese New Zealand citizens about cultural behaviour?   I hope to hear back from you and do appreciate your consideration of this communication.   Thank you,

I have discussed this issue with some Chinese. A lot of them were sad to hear this. They also felt helpless and did not know what to do. Some said the reporter might have exaggerated the number. They asked if there were any photo evidence. Some said the crabbers might be Vietnamese, Malaysian, Korean, or Japanese. One person even said Kiwi & Maori also take seafood from the beach. Why do they point their fingers at the Chinese ?

I hope that this incident does not lead to another Anti-Chinese or Anti-Asian wave.

I think, I’d better tell my fellow Chinese. Hope that they will be aware and hope that everybody will have a correct attitude towards this matter.

What can we see from this incident? What impact will it create? Let’s look at the matter from the crabber, the local people, the Maori and the Conservationist’s point of view.

From the crabbers’ point of view, is there anything wrong? Legally it is absolutely fine. Is there any problem with the person who organized the crabbing trips on the website? We often call upon friends for outings. There is nothing wrong. Everything is within the legal limit. It looks perfectly alright.

Does that mean there will be no problem when everything is within the legal limit? The law allows everybody to take 50 crabs. Should we take it to the maximum? Can one person consume 50 crabs?  If not, will there be wastage? Will there still be crabs around next time you want to go crabbing?

If it was exactly like the reporter said, there were a thousand or hundreds of dark haired people on the beach, like ants, would it be an alarming sight? If everybody was crabbing, would they wipe out the crabs on the beach?

How do the local people and the Maori look at this incident ? Just put yourselves into their shoes and you will know what they think.  Say, if it is China, Taiwan or Hong Kong here, and the seafood has all been taken away, how would you look at those who take away the seafood?

If your front yard is left with a lot of rubbish and broken bottles, how would you feel ?

Many years ago, I was camping on a beach in Sai Kung in Hong Kong. The village woman told her husband to get some seafood for dinner. Dinner would be ready soon. The husband went out and threw the net twice. Then he got 3 fish for the family.

The seafood on the beach may be the daily food for the locals. Now all the crabs were taken. There will not be any for at least 3 to 4 years. The law protects the crabbers. The locals and the Maori cannot stop the crabbing but how will they look at the crabbers? Will the locals and Maori like them ? What will you do if you don’t like some people ?

Is the reporter telling the truth ? Has the number been over-stated?

Is it important that there were a thousand people or only eight hundred, fifty thousand crabs or just five thousand crabs been taken ?

Has Korean been mistaken as Chinese ?

If it is not the Chinese, sooner or later, people will know. However, why are there so much information and blogs in the Chinese website ?

What is the “New Zealand Culture” mentioned in the email ?

I had talked to the Kiwi, some local born Chinese & and some Chinese who had been here for over 40 years. I had also gone fishing with some Kiwi. No matter how many they catch, they just take two or three. One time a fishing beginner, caught 12. He just took one home. He released the rest back into the water.

Maori have privilege on the seafood because it is clearly written in the Treaty of Waitangi. Maori still have the ownership on the seafood. Whenever the Maori have gathering, they will get some seafood for their meal. They will not take excess amount. They all know seafood is easily perishable. If they take too much, it will be wasted. The country is for everybody. The seafood is also for everybody. We should keep some for the others, for the children, for our next generation. Then seafood can be enjoyed forever. Always think of the big picture, not only for themselves, this is the “New Zealand Culture” 

Why did the reporter want to talk to the community leaders?

The incident seemed to be quite serious. What else could she do if she does not get the help from the community leaders?

She wanted the community leaders to comment on “whether this kind of behaviour might be seen as damaging to the reputation of Chinese people in New Zealand?”. She also asked if the association play a role in advising Chinese New Zealand citizens about cultural behaviour.

Actually most of the Chinese are very smart. Don’t they know what they should do and what they should not do? The Chinese here are from different places. If there is no self discipline and they bring along their bad behaviors like rushing in to grab the parking space which somebody has already been waiting to get in, making a lot of noise in the public area, etc. What can the community leaders do ? This is not a school. Can people be smacked for their bad behavior?

I think this all depends on how we look at this place. Have we taken this place as our “home”? Do we not cared for and protect our vege garden and fruit trees? Do we not boot out intruders who picked our vege and fruits?

In this incident, the most important thing we should look at is “conservation”. From the conservation point of view, any huge onslaught of any species will definitely upset the eco balance. If the species become extinct, it will affect the sustainability too. We must understand, the eco system can easily be upset and hard to restore. There is a balance in the system. The extinction of any species may lead to disastrous results.

I like to repeat the story I heard before. When the crop ripens, the birds will come for a share. The farmers hated the bird so much that they caught them all with nets. While the farmers were celebrating their success to get rid of the birds, the locusts swarmed in to devour the whole crop. The farmers did not know that the birds controlled the insects for them. Now the birds had gone, the eco balance was upset. The insects became out of control.

I do not know what role the crabs play on the beach’s food chain and eco balance. To regret when disaster happens, it will be too late. So, it is not important whether there were a thousand or only eight hundred people crabbing, or whether only five thousand or fifty thousand crabs taken. It is also not important whether the crabbers were Vietnamese , Korean or Chinese. Most important of all, if any activity is harmful to our environment, nobody should do it !!!

Those Chinese who want to do something may find it very helpless and it looks like nothing can be done. But, have you ever thought of yourselves ? Have you ever thought of the change we can make if we all work together? If everybody do something starting from oneself, how big an effort it will collectively be ?

Have you ever thought of doing more of the right thing and do less or simply don’t do the wrong thing?

Have you ever thought of integrating into the mainstream, to respect or learn the “New Zealand culture”?

When you go to the beach again, can you resist the temptation of taking the maximum of your quota? Can you tell the others to leave some for next time also?

Do you want to sustain our planet for generations to come? Or you just don’t care about tomorrow and take everything today, even taking away the food for future generations?

Do you want other people to respect you? Have you ever respected the others or even yourselves?

I hope you can make the correct choice.