Tyre slashing, vandalism and racially charged incidents are all part of the storm that has been brewing in the otherwise quaint Victorian coastal town of Venus Bay.

And it all centres on the innocuous shellfish — the pipi.

Sorry, this audio has expired Listen to Fiona Pepper's full report.

At the height of summer, when the conditions are right, more than 2,500 predominately Chinese people can be found digging up the coastline of Venus Bay, 175 kilometres south-east of Melbourne, in search of pipis to eat.

It has prompted a fierce push back by locals, who insist their concerns about the daytrippers are not racist but are instead driven by environmental and social concerns.

Scientists and authorities are now conducting research aimed at eliminating the emotional elements of the debate in an attempt to quantify the ecological impact of pipi harvesting.

A brief pipi history

Ever since the 1960s when the area around Venus Bay was first developed, the inconspicuous shellfish found under the sand at low tide has been harvested both commercially and recreationally for bait.

But over the past eight years, the town, home to a mere 500 permanent residents, has become a hotspot for pipi harvesting among Melbourne's Chinese community.

On a busy summer's day, thousands of hopeful pipi harvesters dig up the main beach in search of the shellfish.

A constant stream of eskies and buckets loaded to the brim are continuously taken off the beach.

Pipis are used for food or bait. ( ABC Radio Melbourne: Fiona Pepper )

Locals have become frustrated with the stress visiting pipi harvesters place on the town's amenities — the car parks, rubbish bins, public toilets — even claiming it restricts emergency service access to the beach.

Beyond the changing dynamic of the town though, there are concerns the rapid increase in pipi harvesting is seeing the species' populations being depleted beyond repair.

John Morrongiello, a lecturer of marine biology at the University of Melbourne, is conducting a Fisheries Victoria-funded study into the impact of pipi harvesting at Venus Bay.

Piles of sand line Venus Bay's beach, a remnant of pipi harvesting. ( ABC Radio Melbourne: Fiona Pepper )

"At the moment there's a degree of he-said, she-said going on; what we really need is some hard facts and that is our role as scientists to do an objective research project."

The cultural divide

When visiting Venus Bay's main beach, Beach One, on an overcast Sunday in March, it was difficult not to encounter that he-said, she-said attitude.

Cheers of joy came from a group of young Chinese tourists when one of them harvested their first pipi of the day.

It was the daytrippers' first time to Venus Bay — "it's famous for people to visit," they remarked.

A group of Chinese tourists drove from Melbourne to spend the day at Venus Bay harvesting pipis. ( ABC Radio Melbourne: Fiona Pepper )

Yet the group was seemingly naive to the ongoing tension playing out.

A little further down the beach, the group's excited energy deeply contrasted that of two locals harvesting for bait.

The two fishermen weren't having much luck and they blamed it on the Chinese harvesters.

"There's nothing left, there's no big ones left."

The pair explained that this was the first time they had harvested at Beach One in three years.

"There's usually too many Asians.

"The last time I came it was Christmas Day and there was probably 3,000 ethnics down here.

"They fill the carpark right back to the shops and they're just everywhere, the whole beach is full."

When did it all begin?

Alyson Skinner, the manager of the Venus Bay Community Centre, cannot remember when this issue began.

"Venus Bay was discovered by a sector of the community," Ms Skinner said.

She hesitated on the word "Asian".

"That created a lot of tension because it was a recognisable demographic that were coming in big numbers to do what all the locals were doing, which was digging on the beach to harvest the pipis."

Alyson Skinner says locals are becoming increasingly frustrated. ( ABC Radio Melbourne: Fiona Pepper )

Ms Skinner said during the Christmas period the state of the beach could be confronting for locals.

"All of the beach access points are heaving with cars," she said.

"The beach is covered with people, many of whom are digging holes, so that can be a little bit confronting for people who are used to seeing a beautiful pristine beach most of the year."

Venus Bay's beach stretches for over 20 kilometres, dotted with five public access points. ( ABC Radio Melbourne: Fiona Pepper )

Ms Skinner explained that as the numbers of harvesters continued to grow, locals became exceedingly frustrated that nothing was being done.

She recalled a community AGM in 2010 which was attended by hundreds of people and was "hijacked around the pipi harvesting issue".

"It became very, very emotional, very agitated, and I think if you'd said, 'let's get down there, let's get rid of them, they're pipi hunters', it would've been an ugly scene at the beach."

Authorities have since responded to specific concerns of over-fishing.

In Venus Bay, unlike the rest of Victoria, you can now only take two litres of pipis rather than five.

No tools like spades can be used, only hands and feet.

Police and the Fisheries Department have also set up road blocks during the busy period to search cars.

A matter of perception

Anthropologist Lisa Hatfield is a PhD candidate at Latrobe University in Melbourne who has spent the past three years investigating the social impacts of pipi harvesting at Venus Bay.

She was drawn to the dispute over the "unassuming little critter" because it raised wider questions about Australia's attitudes toward multiculturalism and identity.

Anthropologist Lisa Hatfield and marine biologist John Morrongiello are conducting research on pipi harvesting. ( ABC Radio Melbourne: Fiona Pepper )

"The issues the locals had with the pipi harvesters were that they were coming for just one purpose; they were coming in organised groups to collect pipis in commercial quantities," she said.

"They said it was their culture to take everything.

"There were also complaints they weren't actually contributing to the local economy in any way."

After inspecting the beach herself, Ms Hatfield found these ideas were "often the exception rather than the rule".

"Locals were drawing on longstanding ingrained stereotypes we have about Asian people in Australia," she said.

Despite this, Ms Hatfield said there were still valid concerns about the pipi harvesting at Venus Bay.

"The locals felt they were being dismissed and being called racist, when in a way they are coming to grips with the changes that are going on at Venus Bay.

"They're concerned that they're losing their sense of place and their sense of belonging."

Are pipi populations depleting?

Down at Beach One, Dr Morrongiello and his field assistants conduct monthly check-ups of the pipi population.

With just a year's worth of data, Dr Morrongiello said he was hesitant to jump to any conclusions about how the pipis were being impacted by harvesters.

"Every time we harvest a population, we're impacting on the biology there, so yes we are having an impact on the pipis," he said.

John Morrongiello and his field assistants are surveying pipi populations. ( ABC Radio Melbourne: Fiona Pepper )

"What we don't know is how much of an impact that is. So what we've found so far is that there are really good abundance of pipis in certain spots on the beach, but we're tending to find that around the access points there is less pipis available.

"Whether that's a seasonal pattern, or whether that's a harvesting pattern, our research over the next two years will allow us to know what's going on there."

He said results from this study would help inform how the area was managed.

"Hopefully science can play a role in bringing a bit of objectivity into this debate."

What next for Venus Bay?

Ms Hatfield described Venus Bay's beach as a segregated space — locals in one area and "pipi hunters" in another.

She said creating more common space could be one solution.

"To have a space that's more welcoming and accepting of both beach users.

"Finding that common ground is really important to the town moving on."