Tribunal supports iwi claims

By IRENE CHAPPLE

The Waitangi Tribunal will soon publish a report supporting iwi claims to have property rights over marine farming waterspace.

The report - "Ahu Moana: The Aquaculture and Marine Farming Report" - found that the proposed aquaculture law reforms breached at least four treaty principles and had insufficient regard for Maori interests.

It recommended that the Government investigate the nature of the Maori interest in marine farming, create protections for those interests and ensure a continuing participation in the industry.

Ngai Tahu's chief executive officer, Tahu Potiki, said he was encouraged by the report, particularly the finding that Maori interest in marine farms forms part of coastal rights that represent a taonga under the Treaty of Waitangi.

"This official recognition provides us with an element of security relating to this resource that will prove invaluable in deciding upon future rights, ownership and access."

Fisheries Minister Pete Hodgson, who received a pre-publication copy of the report just before Christmas, said the results were unsurprising.

"I think they could best be described as supportive and thoroughly unsurprising. It has put some obligations on us to think through some aspects afresh. We had anticipated that and already done some thinking."

However, he said the Government would not have a response to the tribunal's report for two months.

Other iwi involved in the claims were Ngati Kahungunu, Ngati Whatua, Ngati Koata, Te Atiawa, and Ngati Kuia. The report will be made public next month.