Deal puts lid on bitter Maori fishery row

By IRENE CHAPPLE

EXCLUSIVE - The last bastion of objection to the proposed allocation of Maori fisheries assets was splintered last night, clearing the way for the creation of New Zealand's largest fishing company.

Te Arawa and Tuwharetoa iwi will today announce their acceptance of the Treaty of Waitangi Fisheries Commission allocation model.

Their support is hoped to close a decade of infighting over the allocation of $700 million of assets.

The decision by the two iwi discards a former allegiance to the allocation model's major dissenter, the South Island-based Iwi Forum.

The commission could still be legally challenged by the dissenting iwi. But the breakthrough is being seen as the closest Maoridom has come to closing a chapter of litigation and arguments since the 1992 Sealord deal, when Maori relinquished commercial fishing rights in return for quota, cash and shares.

Te Arawa and Tuwharetoa make up 12 per cent of the Maori population and give the commission enough numbers - 65 per cent of Maoridom - to go ahead with the proposal.

It leaves Ngai Tahu, Ngati Porou and Hawkes Bay's Ngati Kahungunu, who together make up the majority of the Iwi Forum and 25 per cent of the Maori population, unsigned.

Cracks in the opposition came after two meetings last week, with the commission offering carrots to the "Lakes Tribes" of Te Arawa and Tuwharetoa.

They have negotiated for the proposal to include the establishment of a trust to help in the development of freshwater fish.

The commission is also believed to have agreed to a review of the new legislation.

A timeframe has not yet been agreed but chairman Shane Jones is understood to be promoting a review after 25 years.

Under the renegotiated terms, iwi will also be able to buy or trade quota and shares with other tribes without the commission having a pre-emptive right.

Tuwharetoa agreed to the proposal this week and last night a meeting of the Te Arawa iwi confirmed its support.

Speaking after the two-hour meeting, Te Arawa Maori Trust Board chairman Arapeta Tahana said the decision was best for the iwi.

The allocation model was released for discussion in August.

It proposes the creation of a company, Aotearoa Fisheries Ltd (AFL), which will hold $350 million worth of commercial fishing assets of Maori, including half of Sealord and 84 per cent of Moana Pacific.

AFL has projected earnings of $28 million and would account for between a third and a half of New Zealand's commercial fishing industry - which last year had a turnover of around $1.5 billion - in terms of quota ownership and company revenues.

The Iwi Forum was opposed particularly to the creation of Aotearoa Fisheries, which it had called paternalistic.