Fisherman makes impassioned plea over BoP mātaitai reserve plans

A local commercial fisherman has pleaded with Fisheries New Zealand to either leave them an area to fish or buy back their quota in the Eastern Bay of Plenty.

An application has been made for a mātaitai reserve to be created around Moutohorā-Whale Island and the Rurima island group which would ban commercial fishing in the area.

About 50 people attended a public meeting on Wednesday night to discuss the creation of a mātaitai Reserve around Moutohorā-Whale Island and the Rurima island group.

The meeting at Te Whare o Toroa Marae in Whakatāne was called by Fisheries New Zealand and Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Awa as part of consultation.

Commercial fisherman Theo Meredith-Wilkie said he supported Ngāti Awa in having mana over their moana, but at the same time, commercial fishermen had to have areas to fish.

He said the fishers have a lot of money invested in fishing quotas.

"You've got to give us something back. Buy back the quota off the invested parties, iwi, fishermen and the fishing companies and then shut the areas down."

Meredith Wilkie said his family, through several generations, had been fishing in the waters off the Eastern Bay of Plenty for more than 70 years.

"Families, iwi, companies and individuals that have fished all their lives, we've got a lot of money tied up in quota and we've earned that.

"Slowly but surely, more and more of our area is being shut down. That's death by a thousand cuts for us.

"We are going to be at a point where there's nowhere for us to catch our fish especially with the koura, the crayfish. That's caught on the toka, on the rocks."

He said the fishing industry often got a bad rap in the media but catches showed that crayfish stocks, in particular, had rebounded.

"My father has been fishing since he was about 20 years old. What he used to take a whole year to catch we can now catch in a couple of months.

"If that isn't caught around those islands, that's going to have to be caught somewhere else and that's going to put pressure on other people's stocks."

Rūnanga chairman Tu O'Brien said he was keen to have meaningful conversations with commercial fishermen to work through the issues.

"All we're worried about is making sure that your children and our children can continue as we've done."

He also responded to recreational fishermen who were concerned the mātaitai will allow the kaitiaki appointed by the iwi to recommend bylaws that restrict or ban the taking of particular species or sizes of fish from the reserve.

"What evidence do you have that your customary fishing rights have been impaired?" one fisherman asked.

"We're not trying to show that the place has been impaired," O'Brien said.

"What we're trying to produce is a tool for not only us as iwi, but across the whole community. We will be inviting the public to be a part of this, especially the people who are out on the water. They're our eyes, they're our ears, they see it all.

"If the Mātaitai isn't there, trying to get legislation put through (to protect an area or a species) is really hard work.

"We're all of the same minds here. We all want the same thing."

The reserve would prevent all commercial fishing within about 500 metres of the islands, but not affect recreational fishing.

Phil Ross from Fisheries New Zealand said chartered boat operators catering for amateur fishers would not be affected by the reserve. Although they were business operations, the fishing that took place on their boats was not commercial.

Public submissions are being invited on the application.

LDR is local-body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air

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