Hokianga Accord Update #30

April Accord hui

Thursday and Friday, April 22 and 23, are the confirmed dates for the first Hokianga Accord hui in 2010.
The venue for the hui is Naumai marae, Ruawai, on the highway to Dargaville, and everyone is welcome to attend. For more details visit www.HokiangaAccord.co.nz or call Shelley Naera on 0275 872466 or Trish Rea on 0274 175121.

Fisheries 2030
In late 2009, Cabinet approved the Ministry of Fisheries’ 2030 project that sets out how our fisheries will be managed over the next twenty years to achieve greater economic returns.
Before Christmas, MFish invited a mix of fishing and environmental personnel to Wellington to discuss the implementation and monitoring of the programme. Two people went to that multi-stakeholder meeting and reported to the Accord.

The February 9th meeting was another valuable opportunity to talk with representatives from all interest groups. In addition to the ministry staff, others at the meeting included customary, commercial and amateur fishing interests, Te Runanga A Iwi O Ngapuhi, Te Ohu Kaimoana, Forest & Bird, the Hokianga Accord and option4, the NZ Sport Fishing Council, and the Environment and Conservation Organisations of Aotearoa New Zealand.

Concerns were raised at the meeting that MFish would use the workshop as simply a ‘tick the box’ exercise and proceed with the original plan, as the well-considered feedback already submitted by the various interest groups has basically been ignored.

The Hokianga Accord dedicated considerable resources to compiling a collective response to the proposals after the forum’s June 2009 hui. The Alliance of environmental and non-commercial interests – many of whom were at this recent meeting – spent months developing submissions and corresponding with both the minister and ministry regarding this project.
It was therefore frustrating that MFish had ignored much of the earlier input and was not prepared to “re-litigate 2030”.

However, an important point from the Accord’s perspective was re-iterated at this meeting – we will achieve success when fisheries management decisions are based on the principle of kaitiakitanga [guardianship] of the resource and the people.

Fishing is one of the last hunting opportunities widely available to all New Zealanders. The whole experience of preparation, knowledge, going on the hunting expedition, returning with the catch, sharing it with family and community – this activity is so enriching for communities in the way it expresses a basic human social benefit of caring and sharing.

Only a generation or two ago a good percentage of the population enjoyed this experience. Now it is becoming a rare event, and this has been to our collective detriment.

The drive to ‘dice and slice’ our fisheries resources and find ‘owners’ for the sea’s wild creatures in response to modern, untested economic theory, is resulting in the progressive separation of the public from access to our fisheries. This affects Maori and non-Maori alike.

- © Fairfax NZ News