Iwi want out of Te Arawa Fisheries

Two iwi are considering withdrawing from the Te Arawa Fisheries Trust - one over entitlement concerns.

Te Mana o Ngati Rangatihi Trust, the post treaty settlement body for Ngati Rangitihi's forestry assets, will ask its members to consider withdrawing from the fisheries trust.

Chairman Graham Pryor said the trust was in the process of obtaining sole mandate to represent Ngati Rangitihi for the purpose of applying to withdraw from Te Kotahitanga o Te Arawa Waka Fisheries Trust Board.

Its main concern is the level of benefits Ngati Rangitihi is receiving from Te Arawa Fisheries. According to Ngati Rangitihi, Te Arawa Fisheries' trading revenue in the 2010 year was $1.3 million.

"In our view, the value of Ngati Rangitihi's share of the fisheries assets in real terms is at least $2.4 million and the Ngati Rangitihi share of returns should be at least $90,000 a year," Mr Pryor said.

"However, during the 2010 financial year and as a result of Te Arawa Fisheries' policy, Ngati Rangitihi only saw direct returns of approximately $20,000, which were made up of three scholarships and a one-off $10,000 grant to a trust chaired by the Ngati Rangitihi representative on the Te Arawa Fisheries' Board."

The income is generated from fisheries assets granted by the Crown following settlement of Te Arawa claims to commercial fisheries under the Maori Fisheries Act 2004. Those assets - $7.1 million of fishing quota, $3.1 million in cash and $13.3 million in Aotearoa Fisheries shares - were transferred to Te Arawa Fisheries in September 2006. Proceeds are to be used for the benefit of all Te Arawa descendants.

Mr Pryor said the mandate process would determine whether Ngati Rangitihi would be better off managing its share of the fisheries settlement, in partnership with Aotearoa Fisheries.

The Te Arawa Fisheries trust deed set out a withdrawal process but first the Ngati Rangitihi trust had to seek mandate from the iwi to represent them on Te Arawa Fisheries Trust. The proposal would be decided at the trust's August 27 special general meeting. If a mandate were achieved, public hui would follow to consider if withdrawal was in the iwi's best interests.

Te Arawa Fisheries chairman Ron Roberts said at present there was no Ngati Rangitihi ropu (group) and the present representative, Andre Paterson, was appointed by the trust.

Mr Roberts said most iwi believe they should be entitled to more - even his iwi Te Ure o Uenukukopako/Ngati Whakaue.

"The two biggest iwi - Te Kotahitanga and Ngati Pikiao - say they should get more." Mr Roberts said of the three Te Arawa treaty settlement bodies, Te Arawa Fisheries was the most generous.

In the past financial year it distributed 58 scholarships of $1000 each, 11 grants of $10,000 to constituent iwi and 113 seafood grants for tangihanga, worth about $300 each. Grants of about $500 were distributed to small ropu for various reasons.

The trust distributed 40 per cent of its income and reinvested the balance, Mr Roberts said. People did not appreciate it was important to invest and "grow the asset".

Sources who asked not to be named have told The Daily Post there are at least three other iwi considering withdrawing. Mr Roberts confirmed Tapuika from Te Puke was but said he was not aware of any other dissatisfied iwi.