The backers of a campaign to block commercial paua harvesters from accessing previously off-limits areas of the South Island coast say it's a waiting game to see if they've been successful.
Submissions closed on Friday on a proposal by the Ministry for Primary Industries to open up 165 kilometres of coast south of Dunedin.
The area was closed to commercial fishing in 1986 because of pollution, but with the removal of meatworks and sewerage outflows along the coast, the fishing industry wants access to the paua beds again.
A spokesperson for the Paua to the People campaign, former All Black Kees Meeuws, says more than 2000 submissions have opposed the proposal.
"I'm positive that our little voice down here at the bottom of the South Island has been heard and that we have shaken the corporate tree a little bit and we've got a few politicians asking questions now."
He says the abundant wild sea life should be left for recreational fishers, who are vehemently against commercial exploitation.
The Dunedin and Invercargill city councils also oppose the proposal.
