Maori offered a fifth of new marine farm space

By RUTH BERRY and AUDREY YOUNG

Tribes will get 20 per cent of new marine farming space under a Government deal offered to Maori.

Under the deal - attacked last night by National as a tradeoff over Labour's troubled foreshore and seabed policy - iwi also will get a fifth of marine farm areas allocated since 1992.

On a willing-buyer, willing-seller basis, the Government will put money aside to buy out existing aquaculture resource consents to fulfil the quota.

In areas where the threshold cannot be met, iwi will be entitled to financial compensation.

Tribes have been battling for aquaculture space for years and the Court of Appeal foreshore and seabed case was sparked by the conviction that they were being locked out of the business.

Funded by the Waitangi Fisheries Commission, the foreshore court case was part of a multi-pronged offensive to gain greater recognition of Maori rights to develop the coastal marine area.

The Government has been determined to separate the aquaculture deal from the foreshore issue, claiming they are not related.

But National last night described it as a foreshore trade-off.

The deal will ensure iwi become key players in the multimillion-dollar sea farming industry and is being billed as a resolution of the one unresolved aspect of the 1992 Maori fisheries settlement.

This settlement reserved 20 per cent of the fishing quota for iwi and established a customary fishing regime.

But it did not address the issue of whether iwi had rights to marine farming space, which the Waitangi Tribunal found they did.

The Government has been dragging its feet over the issue for several years and it is one of the key reasons behind the extension of the aquaculture moratorium.

It is believed that the 20 per cent deal did not receive unanimous support around the Cabinet table.

Maori Affairs Minister Parekura Horomia described it as an important step forward for Maori, which had been years in the making.

Fisheries Minister David Benson-Pope met Maori stakeholders yesterday to outline the plans and said the talks were part of a decision-making process requiring feedback before final decisions were made.

Waitangi Fisheries Commission chairman Shane Jones and John Mitchell, a spokesman for the Marlborough iwi, yesterday welcomed the plan.

Marine farming space is allocated by regional councils and the marine space reserved for iwi will be handed to the commission to allocate under the plan.

The same iwi recognised by the commission will be entitled to aquaculture space, although space would be made available only in areas where regional councils established new AMAs - aquaculture management areas.

Regional councils have been locked in a dispute with the Government over the development of AMAs, part of the proposed new aquaculture management regime.

Mr Benson-Pope said last night he believed he had reached a compromise deal with them and now hoped to reach a deal with Maori to enable the moratorium to be lifted so the development of the industry could proceed.

It would not be difficult to set aside new marine space for iwi, who would go through the same consents process as everybody else, he said.

Iwi would also pay for the consents, just like all other farmers.

But creating space for iwi in areas such as Marlborough would be more difficult and the Government would put money aside to buy consents where marine farmers were willing.

Mr Benson-Pope refused to say what that would cost.

The Government had given the industry, which he believed was reacting positively to the proposal, assurances that marine farmers would not be forced out of their businesses to make way for iwi when existing consents expired - although consents would not be automatically rolled over.

Mr Jones said aquaculture was a sunrise industry for Maori and the development was long overdue.

Mr Mitchell said the proposal was a positive base on which to proceed with negotiations.

National fisheries spokesman Phil Heatley said the proposal was the Government "simply horse trading with Maori. They want Crown ownership of the seabed and foreshore so they have said to Maori 'we'll give you 20 per cent of aquaculture space'.

"It's space for race. Basically Maori get it for free; everyone else has to pay for it."

New Zealand First MP Jim Peters suggested there could be major problems with the Government deciding to deal with iwi through the fisheries commission.

Although the commission was concerned with iwi, marine farming was likely to be hapu or family-based "and there's a huge difference".

"I don't think the Government has got its head around the difference in scale and the nature of mussel or oyster farming."

The deal

Iwi entitled to equivalent of 20 per cent of total aquaculture space allocated since 1992 and 20 per cent of newly designated aquaculture marine areas.

To get the available space, the Government is willing to buy space from present occupiers.

Only iwi entitled to inshore fisheries quota will receive aquaculture allocation.