Changes announced today to the Hauraki Gulf / Tīkapa Moana Marine Protection Bill which seek to permit commercial fishing activity in high protection areas have raised significant concerns for the Hauraki Gulf Forum, the statutory body responsible for promoting the conservation and management of the Hauraki Gulf / Tīkapa Moana / Te Moananui-ā-Toi.

Co-chairs of the Forum, Nicola MacDonald and Mayor Toby Adams, have expressed their alarm at this proposal.

“Opening up high protection areas to commercial fishing undermines years of collaboration by successive governments with Iwi, communities and industry to ensure that the Gulf is protected and restored,” says Ms MacDonald.

“In the Forum's submission on the Bill, we were explicit that commercial activity must not be allowed in high protection areas. To do so undermines the integrity of the Bill and the principles of marine protection, restoration and conservation.”

Mayor Toby Adams says that there is already a robust permitting regime in the Bill to allow activities such as fishing to take place within a protected area.

“The permitting regime already included in the Bill ensures that any activity which takes place meets the biodiversity objectives and the purpose of each protected area,” says Mayor Adams.

“There is no reason to bake into the legislation an exception for commercial fishing, other than an acknowledgement that this would never meet the threshold for receiving a permit - in and of itself an example of why this change should be thrown out.”

The Hauraki Gulf Forum understands that other proposed changes to the Bill include a review of treaty provisions and transferring customary fishing provisions to the Fisheries Act 1996.

“This Bill has been consistently stalled over the past 14 months, and the last minute changes being proposed today, almost four months after the select committee process ended, threaten to set back our protection and restoration efforts by decades.” says Mayor Adams.

“Retaining the limited customary fishing provisions in this Bill also retains the prescribed biodiversity objectives as they relate to any permitted activity, which is a sensible and balanced approach to recognising customary rights within protected areas.” says Ms MacDonald.

Notes:

The Hauraki Gulf Marine Park

The Hauraki Gulf Marine Park is New Zealand’s first marine park, established by the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park Act in February 2000. At 1.2 million hectares (20 times the size of Lake Taupō) it stretches from Te Arai in the north to Waihi in the south and includes the Waitematā Harbour, Gulf Islands, Firth of Thames and the east coast of the Coromandel Peninsula. The Park is the seabird capital of the world, and a whale superhighway, but as successive State of the Gulf reports have shown, it is a shadow of its former self.

The Hauraki Gulf Forum

The Hauraki Gulf Forum is a statutory governance board established under the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park Act 2000 to promote the conservation and management of the natural, historic, and physical resources of the Hauraki Gulf, its islands, and catchments, for the benefit and enjoyment of the people and communities of the Gulf and New Zealand.

The Forum consists of representatives from tangata whenua of the Hauraki Gulf and its islands; the Ministers of Conservation, Oceans and Fisheries and Māori Development; and elected members appointed by the Auckland Council, Hauraki District Council, Matamata-Piako District Council, Thames-Coromandel District Council, Waikato District Council and Waikato Regional Council.

The Forum is required to present triennial reports regarding the state of the environment of the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park. More information on the Forum and the Marine Park is available at www.gulfjournal.org.nz.

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