Saving the Red Moki
"Red moki seek a secure place to live, writes Samara Sutherland, the 1998 head prefect of Kamo High School. In a feature article, prepared as part of her geography course work, she uses the red moki as a compelling argument for marine reserves in Whangarei Harbour. ‘We are the red moki’s only predator. A fish that doesn’t have a predator doesn’t need to produce more young than needed. Red moki control the population of urchins. Urchins eat kelp and fish need kelp. Every organism has a role to play in its environment. By taking red moki we are disrupting the food chain in a very serious way. Red moki are just one of the important fish of the rocky reef. They take several decades to grow to a large size. They rest a lot, which makes them easy targets for spear fishers. The spear fisher can wipe out a breeding population, which takes decades to recover. The slaughter of the set net is even worse. For the red moki and many other reef fish, marine reserves are their only sanctuary:
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/FORBI19990201.2.24
Bibliographic details
Forest and Bird, Issue 291, 1 February 1999, Unnumbered Page
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184Saving the Red Moki Forest and Bird, Issue 291, 1 February 1999, Unnumbered Page
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