Battleground drawn on fishing rights

Press, 12 April 1988, Page 6

Battleground drawn on fishing rights

A battleground on Maori fishing rights was yesterday drawn between ! the New Zealand Fishing Industry and the jNgai Tahu tribe. The New Zealand ing Industry Association, and the New Zealand Fishing Industry Board, have not acknowledged any Maori commercial fishing in 1840. That contention is being challenged in the tribe's claim. Evidence , presented yesterday by Dr Atholl Anderson appeared to

support the tribe’s claim, j He was presenting archaeological evidence about the later:Maori occupation of the interior and species caught by marine fishing. Such evidence could be crucial to future Government fishing policies. The Ngai Tahu tribe was at the forefront of {successful High Court action against the full implementation of the individual quota system, which ignored Maori rights. Dr Anderson said bones collected from archaeological sites i presented

only part of the picture of prehistoric fish catches.

Problems associated with the 1 evidence were that not': all fish were cleaned and cooked on the site and that shark, dog fish, {Skate and other species decayed in such a way that! remains often could not' be identified. However, some sites in the tribal region did indicate that skate, elephant fish and school shark were caught by the tribe. Archaeological data from 50 collections of fishbone,! dating from about 1000 years old to

I II! - - : : ' 200 years old showed that two species — barracuda and |! red cod — were predominantly sought. ! The main species, barracuda, was caught by trolling. Archaeological evidence of specialised offshore fishing dated as early as the fourteenth century. j "TJhe technology was diverse and sophisticated and ( included the use of seine nets, bait-hooks and lure|( hooks,” said Dr Anderson. Lure hook fishing was so productive that . the

same equipment and technique was adopted by commercial fishermen in. the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, he said. Yj; ■ Paua, mussels, pipi and crayfish were also commonly found in the sites. An example of commercial fishing in East Otago was also presented by Dr Anderson. “The first Dunedin settlers, in 1840, were shown by Maoris the technique of catching barracuda and also purchased fish from them,” (“Otago { News,” 1849.)

Catching and preserving fish was the main reason for some of the smaller settlements. In 1867 the “Illustrated New Zealand” reported that the Otakou Maori “cultivate sufficient land to grow their own vegetables and corn, they rear pigs i and poultry to a considerable extent. But their principal avocation is -barracuda (fishing, which they supply to the Dunedin market.”

Eeling and lamprey fishing were also predominant in the area.