Download A history of the Firth of Thames dredge fishery for mussels: use and abuse of a coastal resource

This report reviews the dredge fishery for green-lipped mussels in the Firth of Thames, NZ, from its origin at the start of the 20th century to its collapse in the mid 1960s. It examines the theories put forward for this collapse, and for the failure of natural mussel beds to recover during subsequent decades when fishing had ceased.