Govt offers deal

Press, 15 September 1988, Page 5

Govt offers deal

From page 1

Maori tribes would have to take up each offer before the next instalment was bought and handed over. Government financial support would be available to help Maori tribes set up fishing businesses. A national fisheries management council would be set up — headed by the Minister of Fisheries — and made up of Maori, commercial and recreational fishing interests. It would be charged with allocating quotas to tribes. The proposal has not been welcomed by the chairman of the Maori Council’s fisheries committee, Mr Manu Paul. He called yesterday for the Maori Council to take the Government back to court. The proposal was an insult that tried to take away Maori fishing rights, rights kept in exchange for the pakeha right to govern. Mr Prebble would neither confirm nor deny that the proposal had been made. All he would say last evening was to warn against reading too much into leaked documents. The proposal has moved a long way from the earlier Crown offer of a joint Crown-Maori fisheries corporation that would own the resource but would continue to

lease it in the form of individual transferable quotas. Mr Prebble also declined to comment on how much the leaked proposal would cost. Fisheries sources suggest that at perhaps $2O million a year for 20 years it could cost $4OO million. Mr Prebble said a solution was close. It would be a workable settlement that would enable the

fishing industry to continue to develop. “The solution will be one that most New Zealanders — Maori and non-Maori — will be content with,” he said. “The Government has made no final decision on Maori fishing rights. Crown and Maori negotiators are continuing to negotiate alongside consultation with the fishing industry.”