Revised bill will give tribes share of quotas

Press, 13 December 1989, Page 8

Revised bill will give tribes share of quotas

By

PETER LUKE

in Wellington

Maori tribes will be able to lease up to 5 per cent of the national fishing quotas in a big revision of the Maori Fisheries Bill.

The Government had already decided that Maoris would get 10 per cent of the quota (worth about $lOO million) and $lO million cash as part of a proposal to recognise Maori fishing rights. But the delivery mechanism for this quota proved a stumbling block in the fisheries issue.

The introductory bill proposed the progressive transfer of quotas from the Crown to Maori tribes

in each fisheries management area. This was rejected as impracticable by a special select committee when it reported bn the bill three months ago. That report instead proposed that a new Maori Fisheries Commission would transfer the quota and the $lO million to Aotearoa Fisheries, Lt<j, a company the commission would set up and own. This solution was criticised for being “pan Maori,” not iwi-based, by the Opposition, and by several tribes, as it took no account of traditional fishing rights. The select committee reported ’

back a second time yesterday, after another opportunity for submissions. The substantial change from its September report was that “at least” half of the quota would be transferred to Aotearoa Fisheries. The commission would have the power to lease out up to half the quota, during a period of about four years. This could mean up to 5 per cent of the national quota could be leased to individual tribes. It would be up to the commission to allocate this, not the Government, although the commission could opt to transfer

more than 50 per cent to Aotearoa Fisheries.

The report yesterday proposed that the bill would start functioning next Wednesday, more than two years after the court injunctions which had precipitated the long negotiations. The Prime Minister, Mr Palmer, said he believed all parties could live with the latest proposals.

“After a long period of evolution, consultation and negotiation we now have a bill which will get Maoris fishing,” he said. The latest report had balanced the need to ensure Maori control over the substance of the settlea-

ment, with the requirement that the arrangement work commercially, he said. But the Opposition has vowed to oppose the delivery mechanism, although its fisheries spokesman, Mr Doug Kidd, said it was some improvement on the purely “pan Maori slush fdnd” proposed He said that the Government’s aim was simply to get a piece of legislation through Parliament that would enable the court injunctions to be lifted. Unless an iwi-based determination was accepted — which only the courts could define — therewas no basis for doing anything. Aotearoa Fisheries’ share

t could be disposed of commercially, meaning that yesterday’s report was a “fish and chips” I settlement, the chips being shares in a company which might end up doing anything. i Another Opposition member ’ claimed the delivery mechanism I would not end uncertainty about ! fishing given the claims before the Waitangi Tribunal. Other largely unchanged aspects of the report were the creation of small local fishing areas where Maoris had customary interest and where it was not - in conflict with public interest, and quota management to protect the rock lobster fishery.