December 22, 2014
Fishing parks upset settlement
Maori fishing interests are shaping up for a clash with the government over proposed non-commercial fishing parks in the Hauraki Gulf and Marlborough Sounds.
Hauraki Gulf snapper is shaping up to be a big issue for Maori fishing interests in the year ahead.
In a commentary to its annual report, the Maori Fisheries Settlement Trust Te Ohu Kaimoana described the work of the cross-sector Snapper 1 Working Group, which is trying to develop a management plan for North Cape to East Cape including the Gulf.
Chief executive Peter Douglas says Te Ohu’s interests straddle Maori customary fishing rights – both commercial and non-commercial (including communal and individual rights) as well as kaitiaki responsibilities.
Seventeen iwi have commercial and non- commercial customary interests in the Snapper 1 fishery.
He says consensus has been reached on some general management issues, but there has been no progress on the more controversial issues.
It is Te Ohu’s view that any increase in the SNA1 total allowable catch should be shared across all sectors of the fishery on a proportional basis.
There is little incentive for the commercial sector, for instance, if future increases in the SNA1 catch, resulting from effective commercial management, are simply allocated to the recreational sector.
There is also concern about the impact on iwi if National acts on its election promise to create a non-commercial fishing park in the inner Hauraki Gulf.
Mr Douglas says neither the Snapper 1 Working Group nor the Hauraki Gulf spatial initiative were warned of the policy.
While the Government has suggested quota owners may be compensated, there should not be an expectation iwi would accept compensation, given that the full and final settlement of their fisheries claims promised an ongoing involvement with fisheries.
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