March 26, 2019
Sealord offers iwi better quota profit share
Sealord Group has struck a deal with 36 iwi that represents a major change in how returns from the Māori fisheries settlement are shared.
Operation general manager Doug Paulin says instead of each year competing with other fishing companies to buy annual catch entitlement or ACE, it will get long term use of the deepwater quota held by the iwi.
In exchange the iwi will get 80 percent of the profits from the fish, rather than all the profit going back to the company, which is jointly owned by Māori and Japanese interests.
"What we are able to do is group all that quota on our large fishing vessels so the cost of catch is much smaller than they can do that if they were to catch it themselves, so therefore they get a much higher profit from the sale of that fish," Mr Paulin says.
He says the Ngā Tapuwae o Maui agreement gives iwi the ability to work together collectively, as was the intention of the Māori fisheries settlements.
The agreement will be signed in Auckland this evening on the eve of Te Ohu Kaimoana’s annual conference.
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