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Summarised by Centrist
Tensions are emerging inside the government as National and New Zealand First stake out opposing positions on fishing protections in the Hauraki Gulf.
National’s conservation spokesperson, Tama Potaka, says his party will campaign on restoring stronger protections in the Gulf’s High Protection Areas.
He signalled National would look to reinstate a full ban on fishing in the 12 designated HPAs, after the coalition allowed commercial ring-net fishing in two of them. He also said National would review the decision to allow bottom trawling in certain corridors.
The original legislation, passed last year, created 12 HPAs and five sea floor protection areas, limiting most commercial and recreational fishing. A late amendment, criticised at the time, gave exclusive access to ring-net operators in two zones.
New Zealand First deputy leader Shane Jones has strongly pushed back. He warned that terminating commercial fishing in the Gulf could jeopardise property rights secured under the 1992 Sealord fisheries settlement, which granted iwi a 50 per cent stake in Sealord and significant quota under the Quota Management System.
Jones questioned who would pay if fishing rights were removed. “We’re not a communist country that goes around summarily cancelling property rights,” he said.
He described proposals to terminate commercial fishing as risking the “unravelling” of the Sealord Deal.
