Balance needed in sharing fishing interest
He Kororia ki te Atua
He maungarongo ki runga i te whenua
He whakaaro pai ki nga tangata katoa
Nga whakaaro ki a ratou kua wheturangitia, me ou ratou whanau i noho ai i raro i te kapua pouri. Nga manaakitanga o te Atua ki runga i a tatou katoa.
Over the last year, iwi and government agencies have been trying to resolve questions on how we deal with competing fishing interests. The Government has promoted what has been called “shared fisheries”, but inherent in the proposals has been reducing the amount of the resource available to the commercial sector and increasing that available to the recreational fishing sector.
When we saw the Shared Fisheries Proposal, it didn't take long to realise that it was our fishery which was to be shared with someone else.
It has been our view that we require balance between all three sectors- customary, commercial and recreation, and that any policy initiatives must look at how we achieve balance instead of a polarising approach of how much each sector might get.
With long-term rights commercial operators aren't interested in plundering the resource, but they are expected to provide a return on capital that compares with other fishing companies. Customary fishers want to feed their people and know they always can, but they aren't interested in stopping the commercial company from performing.
The amateur fishermen want to catch fish and they want there to be bigger fish in the water in choosen location to be able to continue their activities in the future.
When balancing everyone's interests, Te Ohu Kaimoana has been advocating that everyone gets involved at the early stages to ensure their views are accommodated. It makes sense to involve iwi early on because it means that the parties can learn about each other's interests at the right time and not at a point when accommodating the other is seen as a concession.
Now that the Maori fisheries assets are returning to iwi through the allocation model outlined in the Maori Fisheries Act 2004, we expressed our concern when the shared fisheries proposals were mooted earlier this year. We have a concern that the value of the fisheries settlement could be reduced if we see less of the catch being dedicated to the commercial sector.
We also recognise that the commercial industry is the only sector that maintains a rigid reporting and monitoring control system so that the public know how much is being taken. While there are improvements being made to the customary sector, we would expect that similar reporting requirements are instituted across the board.
That the commercial sector could be significantly cut through the shared fisheries process is hard for some iwi to swallow, especially since Maori have interests in all three sectors. The Ministry has been working on shared fisheries for many months and looking to find some resolution to the problem. It is our view, however, that it cannot be merely a discussion over how much quota is taken off the commercial sector and given away. There needs to be an approach that is fair and balances all interests, especially Maori, after all we are the ones involved in all fishing sectors.
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Tiakina ngā rawa hi ika, a tātou kaimoana mo ngā uri whakaheke
Protecting Māori fisheries assets for future generations