Iwi chief says Maori fish only for themselves

JONATHAN DOW
Feeding the whanau was the number one priority, not commercial fishing interests, Nga Puhi chairman Sonny Tau told a fisheries conference in Napier yesterday.
Sustaining iwi fisheries against a backdrop of fierce international competition is the focus of the two-day Te Matua a Maui Fisheries conference.
More than 180 delegates and speakers, including the US ambassador, William P McCormick, packed into the Napier War Memorial Centre for the conference, which finishes today.
Mr Tau said "99.99 percent" of Maori fishing was recreational and that should be their priority.
"There's not a Maori I've spoken to that tells me: 'We sell it overseas first."
Mr Tau said the law, which was meant to ensure sustainability, had been ignored, to the detriment of Maori. Maori have interests in all three categories - recreational, customary and commercial - of fisheries in Aotearoa. That brought challenges, Mr Tau said, but keeping sustainable fish stocks should be the priority.
"Unlike Pakeha, we're strapped in - we can't sell out when it goes through the floor," Mr Tau said. "Pakeha have done it - raped the fishery - and got out."
Mataitai (customary fishing reserves) were subject to a "race for space" with the Department of Conservation who wanted to set up "no take forever" reserves.
"There's a threat of legal action against mataitai - not from the public but from commercial fishers," said Mr Tau. The commercial fishers included "our own AFL" - the iwi-owned Aotearoa Fisheries Limited.
"We own that company. Why are we not informed of their opinions?" asked Mr Tau, who said he would leave this matter til when the iwi chairs next met.
McCormick, who owned a chain of seafood restaurants before becoming a diplomat, told the conference business and environmental interests were not incompatible - despite the conventional rhetoric and examples to the contrary. "With regard to world fisheries, those with the strongest, vested interests in sustainability are those actually employed in the industry itself."
In the US, environmental activists have bypassed government and boycotted and picketed restaurants and retailers to stop selling particular seafood catches. Responsible restaurants in the US will not serve Patagonian tooth fish, Mr McCormick said. "And they don't need to. With over 1300 known edible species, restaurants don't have to rely on one fish." Opening the conference, Maori Affairs and Associate Fisheries minister Parekura Horomia told the 180 delegates that as iwi met the requirements to have their fisheries settlement assets transferred, they could plan ahead.
They could develop catching, processing and marketing arrangements to bring the best return to their members, Mr Horomia said.
Fishing for Maori was a major business - not just "cultural practice", said Dr Manuka Henare, of the management and economic relations department at the University of Auckland.
Speaking on "The Maori psychology of fishing", Dr Henare said Maori had been doing business for thousands of years.
"Economic activity has always been tough. Failure would lead to hunger."
Iwi and hapu owned fishing rights to certain areas and he showed records of fishing nets "one of which would give employment to the whole village".