July 28, 2016
Select committee endorses raupatu
Te Ohu Kaimoana says MPs are wrong to think iwi will be appeased if they give a massive new ocean sanctuary a Maori name.
One of the few changes the local government and environment select committee recommended to the Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill was to call it the Kermadec/Rangitahua Ocean Sanctuary to recognise the indigenous name for Raoul Island.
Dion Tuuta, the chief executive of the Maori fisheries settlement trust, says the committee ignored the concerns of iwi and supported the confiscation of Maori fishing rights in the Kermadec region.
He says the bill erodes the 1992 Fisheries Settlement between Maori and the Crown and shows treaty settlements are at the mercy of the government of the day.
Te Ohu Kaimoana and the fishing industry received no recognition for the work they have done over the past decade to protect the seabed and biodiversity of the Kermadec region, and the bill shows there are no incentives for the industry to protect and conserve the environment as an aspect of its sustainable fishing policies.
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