Ngati Whatua Iwi Backs Call For Moratorium On Development in the Kaipara

Te Runanga o Ngati Whatua Chairman, Naida Glavish, says the Iwi fully supports calls by Te Uri O Hau and the Maori Party to establish a moratorium on development in the Kaipara Harbour.

She says in order for revisions to the foreshore and seabed legislation to have any meaning whatsoever developments, such as those being mooted by Crest Energy to generate power from turbines across the Harbour entrance, must wait.

“ We are at a delicate stage of negotiating Iwi rights to the foreshore and seabed and this must take precedent over any development proposals in the pipeline.”

Naida Glavish says the Kaipara Harbour is not only a taonga at the very heart of the rohe (territory) of Ngati Whatua, it is also a critical ecosystem that underpins the snapper (tamure) fishery for a huge area around the west and east coasts of the North Island.

She says the Kaipara as a harbour is under threat from neglect, with issues such as poor water quality and adverse effects from adjacent land use and has long suffered from the lack of a comprehensive resource management plan for the harbour and its catchments.

“ There are all sorts of disorganised and contradictory rules and regulations among various local councils and government departments that don’t recognise and manage the Kaipara as a whole. New foreshore and seabed legisiation offers an opportunity to both recognise the mana of Ngati Whatua in the Kaipara and open the way for a comprehensive co-management approach to the Harbour and all its tributaries.

Naida Glavish is chairman of Te Runanga o Ngati Whatua that represents the interests of 32 marae across the Ngati Whatua rohe from Tamaki River in the south to Maunganui Bluff and Whangarei in the north.

ENDS

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