Cray pots removed to make way for customary rights

Hawkes Bay fisher Ross Gardner has packed up his pots after a law was passed which stops him - for the time being - catching crayfish in what is now a designated customary Maori fishing ground.

Mr Gardner has fished off the Whirinaki coast commercially since 1966. Last month Parliament declared the coastline from Whirinaki to 28km north a "mataitai" - a reserve that recognises and provides for customary food-gathering by Maori in areas special to tangata whenua.

The mataitai off Whirinaki is known as "Moremore".

Mataitai were introduced as part of the Treaty of Waitangi (Fisheries Claims) Settlement Act 1992 to provide a tool for Maori to manage all non-commercial fishing grounds.

Rock Lobster Council chief executive Daryl Sykes said Moremore was the first mataitai that had affected commercial fishing.

"They were meant to stay small and discreet but it is turning out to be bigger than Ben Hur," he said.

If the proposed Kairakau mataitai, south of Cape Kidnappers, was put in place it would have a huge impact on the industry, he said

Between 78 tonnes and 105 tonnes of seafood a season came from the Kairakau area and a mataitai could result in $2 million in lost income.

Mr Gardner said he was given 36 hours to leave the Whirinaki area after it was made a mataitai and told to remove his pots as soon as the weather allowed.

Although missing his job he was staying positive.

"We have made a major reshuffle in our lives and brought plans forward. I have got more time to spend with the grandson and my hobby - old cars," he said.

Although Mr Gardner acknowledged he could fish in other areas within the CRA4 area (which covers the bottom of the North Island), he did not want to leave his fishing grounds of the last 40 years.

The kaitiaki (guardian) of the mataitai was applying for commercial fishing to resume but the application had to go before Cabinet.

- NZPA