FISHY FRIENDS

We have been watching the Mataitai issue with interest. We have predicted that this is the next Foreshore and Seabed issue.

Now lets go back to the reasons for the fisheries settlement - It was all about putting Maori on an equal footing as per the treaty and giving them an economic share.

Now Maori are saying that Mataitai are being put in place to ensure that local hapu can get a feed of fish. Yip that's what they negotiated with the Crown at the time of the settlement. Can't really argue with that now.

But the fisheries settlement was really all about ensuring that Maori got a slice of the economic fishpie. The Mataitai were a clip on as customary take was enshrined at the time to ensure Maori could take a feed.

So if the Maitaitai are put in places where Maori are actually fishing for profit then that is a simple travesty for two reasons. One it goes against the original intentions of Mataitai which was for small discrete areas for Maori family and secondly it undermines the economic benefits that Maori get from being a big part of the commercial fishing industry.

The Seafood Industry needs all parties to play a part.

But the tectonic plates of rights appear to have shifted and nowhere is that more evident that with Maitaitai.

The simple fact of the matter is if the ultra PC Ministry of Fisheries and the Uber PC department of Conservation continue to support and grant Mataitai the size of sheep stations then there is serious cause for concern and an impact on the economy.

Maitaitai are being used, not to manage fisheries resources, but to lock out commercial interests.
Recreations fishers love Mataitai because the way they see it - it locks out there arch enemy - commercial fishers.

Recreational fishers are the bastards who believe they have all the rights but take no responsibility. For decades they have sat outside the Fisheries management regime and bleated but have done little to contribute to the sustained management of our seafood resources. The recreational fishers groups ( who really hate Maoris and used to be the most racist bunch of pricks around) have formed an unholy alliance with Maori to propagate Mataitai around the country. Venal and hypocritical wankers that they are. And Maori have been taken in - hook, line and sinker.

However ,we understand that some of the finest legal beagles in the Seafood industry reckon the interpretation of the Mataitai regs is flawed and are shaping up to take the fight to the courts.

There are 10 Mataitai in existence and 37 in the pipeline.


This is an issue all New Zealanders should be watching closely. Nothing is surer - it's is going to get very, very ugly.