October 22, 2012
Celebrations for 20 years of Sealord deal
Meanwhile, a ceremony in Parliament this evening will mark the 20th anniversary of the first shares plus treaty settlement, the Sealord fisheries deal.
That’s when the then-National Government paid Maori $150 million to buy a half share in New Zealand’s largest fishing company, in full and final settlement of fishing claims.
It came four years after an interim settlement under which Maori got 10 percent of available fishing quota.
The initial settlement was sparked by the Waitangi Tribunal’s Muriwhenua Fisheries Report, which found that Maori fishing rights could be commercial.
That was the basis for a successful court challenge that argued that in creating the quota management system, the Crown had created tradable property rights in fishing without accounting for Maori interests.