Seabed 'control by stealth'

More applications are being made for mataitai fishing reserves for Maori and some of them are big, National Party fisheries spokesman Phil Heatley said yesterday.

He claimed the number of applications for mataitai had "mushroomed" since the Foreshore and Seabed Act was passed, giving Maori "control by stealth" of the seabed and foreshore.

Mataitai reserves are traditional fishing grounds where tangata whenua manage all fishing. There is no commercial fishing and recreational fishing is heavily controlled. Mr Heatley said Maori could enforce bylaws at 15 days' notice covering species, quantity, size limits and fishing methods.

One reserve was gazetted before Labour gained power, five since it was elected to government, and 11 were in the pipeline, he said.

"Most of these applications hit the table immediately after the seabed-foreshore issue was ignited by the 2003 Court of Appeal Maori coastal title decision."

Mr Heatley said mataitai were supposed to be small areas of traditional importance near coastal marae but the size of some was extraordinary. He said one was 715sq km.

- NZPA