Māori Fisheries

Background

Fisheries have always been important to iwi and hapū.

Seafoods were traded widely among tribal groups and, later, with European settlers in New Zealand. And being able to feed their guests seafood shows the host's mana at important events on the marae.

The fishing gear used by Māori impressed James Cook and other early Europeans. When the Treaty of Waitangi was signed in 1840, Māori were already trading seafood products into Australian markets.

Fishing's importance was recognised by the Treaty of Waitangi. The English version guaranteed Māori "undisturbed possession" of their fisheries until they wished to dispose of them to the Crown. This idea of Māori fisheries rights was later brought into New Zealand law.

In 1986, the government set up a new way for managing commercial fishing. The system created tradable quota shares in the commercial fishery. Suddenly, Māori no longer had special rights that guaranteed "undisturbed possession" of their fisheries.

This kicked off the largest indigenous rights claim in New Zealand's history.

The Fisheries Settlement

After much debate, the government and Māori both agreed the new system was best for New Zealand's commercial fisheries. However, they spent some time in court before they could agree on how to settle this loss of Māori fisheries rights.

The settlement was split into two parts: commercial and non-commercial.

The commercial part was done in two stages. In 1989, the government bought back 10 percent of the quota shares it had given to fishers and gave this to the Treaty of Waitangi Fisheries Commission, for the benefits of Māori. In 1992, the government gave Māori a cash settlement that was used to buy half of New Zealand's biggest fishing company - Sealord. The government also gave Māori 20 percent of the commercial quota shares of any new species brought into the system.

The non-commercial part was settled in 1998 by the "customary fishing regulations". These laws recognise the control tangata whenua, or "people of the land", traditionally had over fishing culture and some of their fishing areas.

As well as this, when the government sets catch limits for fisheries each year, it must now allow for Māori customary use (eg hui, blessings, tangi).

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Updated : 16 November 2007

Restoring Rapaki Bay fisheries

Rapaki Mātaitai Reserve in Lyttleton Harbour is a traditional fishing ground for the people of Te Hapū o Ngat&3299; Wheke Runanga.

The reserve covers the whole of Rapaki Bay, an area that has shown poorer and poorer seafood catches over the years. This has been blamed on overfishing, sewage, and road and pasture runoff into the harbour.

The reserve's guardians (Tangata Tiaki) are working with government agencies and the local community to help improve the state of these fishing grounds.

Included in this are new regulations to control fishing in the reserve. The guardians have stopped all customary and commercial fishing in the area, and are now monitoring the catches of recreational fishers.

Any recreational fisher in the reserve must now report their catch to the Tangata Tiaki, telling them how many fish were caught and when.

The guardians are working with the local community to reduce pollution from septic tank leakage, road and pasture runoff, and stock effluent. Great results have been achieved to date: the area's sewage is now piped to Lyttleton, some pasture has been retired, forest remnants are being fenced, and stream banks planted.

The reserve's guardians believe that pollution from sewerage outfalls in Lyttleton Harbour is having a huge affect on the health of sealife in the reserve. They are working with local councils to reduce this, as well as on ways to reduce the impacts of boating on Rapaki Bay.