Tribe in bid to halt fish regulations

Press, 8 October 1987, Page 1

Tribe in bid to halt fish regulations

JANE ENGLAND,

Maori affairs reporter

The legal action taken against the Crown by the Ngai-Tahu Maori Trust Board could mean that new fishing regulations will be suspended before the Government can apply them in the South Island.

The board’s solicitor, Mr David Palmer, said an application for the case to be heard in the High Court was filed yesterday. The board Is seeking to prevent the introduction of regulations which would bring all commercial squid and Jack mackerel fishing under the quota management system. The board is in the midst of presenting the largest land claim in New Zealand to the Waitangi Tribunal. It is seeking to have the introduction of the regulations in South Island coastal waters frozen until the part of its claim that includes Maori fishing rights is heard. The rate at which the sections of the claim are being heard indicates that it may be a year before fishing rights are presented.

Mr Palmer said that, in simple terms, the problem stemmed from the fact that every fish species had been grouped into a Total Allocation Catch (T.A.C.) through which the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries aimed to conserve each breed.

“The individual transferrable quotas (1.T.Q.) represent slice? of this pie; Our worry lies in the fact that if the tribunal makes a recommendation that the Maoris have a right to some of these there may be none left if the Government is allowed to proceed.” Mr Palmer said the board did not believe the Government would find it “politically expedient” to buy back some of the quotas to give to the Ngai Tahu, particularly when some of these are already changing hands for millions of dollars. The board, in correspondence to the Ministry, has repeatedly stated its position on fishing rights and voiced concern over the Ministry’s manoeuvres on the issue.

It has stated that the tribe claims sole ownership to the fishery off its tribal coasts but in light of the partnership principle implicit in the Treaty of Waitangi the Ngai Tahu are prepared to grant the Crown a full half-share. The Waitangi Tribunal’s chief judge, Edward Durie, recently implored the Ministry not to proceed with the introduction of the new regulations but his plea was ignored. This resulted in swift court action from the Muriwhenua Incorporation to prevent the regulations from being applied in its Northland waters.

That case might have set a precedent