Iwi get $97m for messy marine deal

Ten iwi are to be paid $97 million to replace an unworkable deal that gave them a share of marine areas for fish and shellfish farms.

The original deal gave iwi 20 per cent of all marine farming space created between 1992 and 2004, when it was signed. It also guaranteed to Maori 20 per cent of any new space created after 2004.

But not a single transaction has resulted for farms created before the signing date.

The new deed of settlement, to be signed in Wellington today, brings to a close a messy chapter of legislation that some insiders have described as a "nightmare" to implement.

Maori who didn't want to go on record before today's signing said although new space would be easier to transfer, there were huge difficulties in allocating pre-commencement space.

"You needed a willing buyer [the Crown] and a willing seller. Even if you did get it there were complexities about how you would divide up a farm among iwi. It's a nightmare.

"[The legislation is] complex and it's cluttered just because there are so many interests involved."

Te Ohu Kaimoana, which looks after Maori industry interests, was the organisation charged with holding on to any pre-commencement space before deciding who it belonged to. Since 2004 it had not received any of that space to divvy out.

The 10 iwi represent 92 per cent of the Crown's pre-commencement space obligations to Maori which the legislation said had to be sorted out by 2014.

It was a smart move for tribes to settle the issue before that date, sources said.

"Tribes were thinking 'what are the opportunities that are being missed?' Is it better to do it now and realise some of the opportunities your iwi wants to make now? It is a really good result in the respect that we're going to get something."

Aquaculture New Zealand chief executive Mike Burrell - who wants to grow the industry past $1 billion by 2025 - said the deal was fantastic because uncertainty that had acted as a "handbrake" to growth had been removed.

New space which district councils would designate would be clear about space being set aside for Maori, Mr Burrell said. "From the point of view of the industry from here on in it's relatively straightforward - the 20 per cent commitment [to Maori] you just build in."

The bulk of the iwi come from the top of the South Island, a group known as Te Tau Ihu tribes. The Hauraki confederation on the Coromandel and Ngai Tahu make up the group.

Marlborough and the Coromandel are major producers in the industry with significant Greenshell Mussel, Pacific Oyster and King Salmon stakes in the $300 million industry.