By BRONWYN SELL
Maori at a hui in Auckland are working out ways to get the meat, blubber and bones of beached whales.
Under present law, most beached whales are buried, and while Maori in some places can get bones with permission from the Department of Conservation, they cannot eat the meat
or use the oil.
The hui at Orakei Marae, organised by the Waitangi Fisheries Commission and Te Puni Kokiri, the Ministry of Maori Development, is looking at customary rights to beached whales and the practicalities of using the meat and oil.
It is also discussing laws banning people from taking whalebone goods, including carved pendants, out of the country.
Sean Kerins, a customary fishing adviser for the commission, said Maori would probably nominate a group of people to lobby for law changes when the meeting ended this afternoon.
"Maori want to be able to eat beached whales and use their bones," he said.
"They don't want the bones to be buried."
Halley Toia, a representative of the host iwi, Ngati Whatua, said it was looking at how to get around the legal restrictions on using whale body parts.
The DoC manager of marine relations, Michael Donoghue, was at the hui and said the department considered Maori cultural issues very carefully.
But he said the meat of most types of whale that beached themselves was high in contaminants and might not be safe to eat.
Marine mammal conservationist Susan Halliwell said Maori might be reluctant to help to refloat stranded whales if laws were changed.
But Mr Toia said such views were an over-reaction. "We're not going to kill them for killing's sake."
