siphon holes were apparent, there were a total of 83 toheroa ranging from 10 to 70 mm in shell length.
No tuatua were encountered. In addition, hundreds of toheroa spat were found in the higher intertidal
zone of the beach, and local observations by tangata whenua (B. Seale and J. Te Tuhi, pers. comm.)
suggest there was a good spatfall of toheroa in 2009 and 2010. Results of the 2010 preliminary
fieldwork suggested that there may be about 15 to 18 major toheroa beds along Dargaville Beach, and
about 20 minor beds. The majority of these were thought to be in the northern half of the beach, but a
full 2-phase random stratified survey of Dargaville Beach was considered to be warranted, and we
proposed to stratify the beach using a combination of initial (pre-survey) stratification fieldwork and
analysis of toheroa distribution patterns using the 1999 and 2007 Dargaville toheroa survey data.