Toheroa past and present | A Gallery from Nine To Noon | RNZ National

Decades of depletion of toheroa beds have left the shellfish struggling to recover.

Three women from Northland, photographed ca. 1910–1930s, shelling toheroa meat into tin cans for a toheroa cannery. Their kete (flax bags) are full of shellfish, and they are surrounded by empty shells (1/1-026522-G. ATL)

Harvesting Toheroa on a Northland beach, ca. 1920s–1930s (1/1-010575-G. ATL);

Toheroa being dug from trenches on Muriwai Beach, 1962. (AAQT 6539, A70987. Archives New Zealand, The Department of Internal Affairs,Te Tari Taiwhenua).

Toheroa collected from Hokio Beach during the September open day in 1977 (EP/1077/3679/36-F. Alexander Turnbull Library (ATL))

Justin Tamihana and Phil Ross

The images in this gallery are used with permission and are subject to copyright conditions.