Māori Commercial Aquaculture Claims Settlement

Delivering the Māori Commercial Aquaculture Claims Settlement

The Māori Commercial Aquaculture Claims Settlement Act 2004 (Settlement Act) provides for the full and final settlement of contemporary Māori claims to commercial aquaculture. Under the Act, the Crown is responsible for delivering the settlement.

The Māori Commercial Aquaculture Claims Settlement Amendment Act 2011 (the Amendment Act) amended the Settlement Act to enable the settlement to be delivered on a regional basis. These regional agreements will be negotiated between the Crown and iwi organisations (iwi) listed in schedule 4 of the Māori Fisheries Act 2004. Iwi listed in schedule 4 are the only entities that can receive settlement assets from the Crown. Under the Māori Fisheries Act 2004, the Crown will transfer settlement assets to Te Ohu Kaimoana (the trustee) who then allocates it to the appropriate iwi.

Learn more about the settlement.

Features of the settlement mechanism under the Amendment Act

The Crown is responsible for delivering the settlement.

The 20% obligation established in the Settlement Act remains unchanged.

The settlement will be delivered on a regional basis, through agreements between the Crown and iwi.

The Crown must ensure that the trustee, who is acting on behalf of iwi, is provided with settlement assets that are representative of 20% of the new space in one of the following ways:

• the provision of exclusive authorisations to apply to occupy space in the coastal marine area for the purpose of aquaculture activities and any payment required by section 13(4) of the Amendment Act
• the payment of a financial equivalent of that space
• entering into one or more regional agreements under section 10 of the Amendment Act.

Planning for ongoing delivery of settlement

The Minister responsible for Aquaculture is required to prepare a plan by December 2012 for the ongoing delivery of settlement obligations. This plan, developed in consultation with the trustee and iwi, will detail the Crown’s progress in terms of meeting the settlement obligation and the processes and methods for maintaining the settlement into the future. Once the plan is completed, the Minister must provide copies of the plan to the relevant regional council, the trustee, and the relevant iwi.

The plan is to be reviewed every five years, supporting a staged approach to the settlement in the default situation.

Notifying aquaculture space through Gazette notices

As part of the Amendment Act, powers have been given to the Minister responsible for Aquaculture to gazette space in the coastal marine area to create future settlement options.

This power is initially being used to notify space for settlement purposes, mitigating the risk that private interests have first access to better aquaculture space while regional agreements are being negotiated. An initial gazette notice was publicly announced on 29 September 2011 and includes 12 sites that are located in Northland, Waikato (east), and Marlborough where immediate aquaculture development is expected.

Learn more about the gazetted sites.

Notifying space under Gazette notices does not change current uses or rules, but it does stop private interests from applying for resource consents to carry out aquaculture activities. It also prevents regional authorities from consenting other activities that might impact on future aquaculture activities.

All gazetted space is still subject to the resource consents process and any other regulatory requirements (e.g. the UAE test) before it can be approved for aquaculture. Community participation is a core component of RMA processes.

Gazette notices are not a replacement for negotiated regional settlements. Gazette notices are initially a way of ensuring that some appropriate space has been notified so that negotiations can be meaningful or as a default option if a regional agreement cannot be reached. In future settlement processes iwi may be provided with the exclusive rights to apply for aquaculture activities in such space.

Why was the Settlement Act amended?

The Settlement Act was developed in parallel with the 2004 aquaculture law and provided for claims to be settled by allocating authorisations for 20% of aquaculture management areas (AMAs) to iwi.

The Amendment Act removed the requirement for AMAs to be established before new space could be applied for which meant a new delivery mechanism for the settlement was needed.

Background Information

 Download Delivering on the Maori Commercial Aquaculture Settlement (PDF 103KB)

 Download questions and answers about the settlement and gazette notice process (PDF 68KB)

 Download Cabinet Paper (PDF 1.01MB) 

 Download Regulatory Impact Statement Settlement (PDF 5.62MB)

 Download EGI Minute of Decision Settlement (PDF 138KB)

 Download LEGC Aquaculture in New Zealand Part 1 - Preliminary analysis (PDF 2.89MB)

 Download LEGC Aquaculture in New Zealand Part 2 - Supplementary analysis (PDF 2.14MB)

 Download the Discussion Document: Delivering the New Space Obligation (PDF 4.7MB) 

 Download Questions and Answers from the recent engagement hui on the proposed mechanisms to deliver the new space settlement obligation (PDF 112KB)

 Download schedule of regional hui (PDF 29KB)

 Download the Delivering the Maori Commercial Aquaculture Settlement presentation that was used at the hui. (PDF 776KB)

 Download Information sheet 4: Delivering the Māori Commercial Aquaculture Settlement (PDF 100KB)