Mahuru 2008
Issue 15

  1. Te Ohu Kaimoana supports changes to Fisheries Act
  2. New online fisheries information
  3. Touch of the wing tip
  4. Taranaki iwi receive remainder of settlement assets
  5. The future is in our hands
  6. Crown reviews delivery of aquaculture settlement to Maori
  7. AFL increases ownership in abalone
  8. China opportunities explored
  9. Kahawai catches to be reviewed next year
  10. AFL moves to Auckland
  11. AFL reports good half-year profit
  12. Sealord vessel forfeiture unnecessary
  13. Te Ohu hopeful of Bluenose reduction
  14. Seals eating fish species, study shows
  15. Rock lobster negotiations fail as recreational fishers leave the table
  16. Aust aquaculture meeting attended by Maori

Other Issues >>

Crown reviews delivery of aquaculture settlement to Maori

It has been four years since the Maori Commercial Aquaculture Claims Settlement Act was passed in 2004 and iwi have yet to receive any form of settlement from the Crown. This delay has brought the Government criticism in and out of Parliament and, as a result, the Ministry of Fisheries is proposing plans in which the Crown can meet its settlement obligations to Maori.

Aquaculture Development Manager for Te Ohu Kaimoana Simon Karipa: “There’s a lot of work to be undertaken to ensure iwi get their full value of this settlement.”

In June, the Ministry released a consultation document on its plans to fulfil the Crown’s aquaculture settlement obligations. The Ministry is only looking at the Crown’s obligations for settling the “precommencement space” at this stage, but it could result in some early settlements, especially in Tasman and Hauraki areas.

The aquaculture settlement arose out of a Government moratorium imposed in 2001 on all new aquaculture space and which continued until the Act was passed. The Government sought ways in which New Zealand’s growing marine farming industry could be better managed and implemented a regime where aquaculture could only be carried out in so-called “aquaculture management areas” or AMAs. This new regime was implemented through an amendment to the Resource Management Act, but also resulted in a settlement with iwi.

The Maori Commercial Aquaculture Claims Settlement Act provides iwi with 20 percent of all AMA space created after the 1st of January 2005 and also the equivalent of 20 percent of existing space (called “pre-commencement” space) created between 21 September 1992 and 31 December 2004. The Ministry of Fisheries says its consultation and subsequent plan aims to provide more certainly about how the precommencement obligations will be delivered to iwi.

Te Ohu Kaimoana Aquaculture Development Manager, Simon Karipa, says that many of the options proposed in the consultation document are agreeable and mirror those that have been already advocated by Te Ohu Kaimoana. “This Ministry document reflects the fact that the Government has agreed to fundamentally review the current aquaculture regime to deliver the settlement to iwi. Te Ohu Kaimoana and iwi will have an opportunity to feed into this process,” he said.

In the document, the Crown outlines:

• Progress thus far on delivering the settlement to iwi,

• How it might purchase established marine farms,

• How the Crown will determine the financial equivalent,

• The proposed valuation methodology, and

• Options to amend the Act to improve delivery of the settlement to iwi

Simon says the Crown has the ability to take, under certain circumstances, an additional 20 percent of any new AMA to satisfy its pre-commencement obligations, but the consultation document notes that no new space has been created and therefore this method for settling precommencement is unlikely to be undertaken in the short term.

He added that the purchase of existing marine farms to settle its obligations would require proper valuation of the enterprises and that all iwi in the region were Iwi Aquaculture Organisations, they agreed on the farms to purchase and how the benefits would be distributed to each of the relevant iwi.

Similarly, determining the financial equivalent also proposes its own difficulties, such as the method of valuing aquaculture space. “We believe that the Crown’s methodology in the pilot programmes is flawed, particularly in relation to the treatment of the exchange rate, so there’s a lot of work to be undertaken to ensure iwi get their full value of this settlement,” Simon says.

Simon says Te Ohu Kaimoana is currently working on ways to discuss these options more in depth with iwi aquaculture representatives and also attend the Ministry of Fisheries consultation hui. Submissions to the Ministry close on 1 October

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Tiakina ngā rawa hi ika, a tātou kaimoana mo ngā uri whakaheke
Protecting Māori fisheries assets for future generations