May 04, 2016
Tribunal can’t save Maui’s dolphins
Disappointment for two Waikato hapu with the Waitangi Tribunal finding the Crown’s policy on the protection of the endangered Maui’s dolphin does not breach the Treaty of Waitangi.
Ngati Te Wehi and Ngati Tahinga, who are based in and around Aotea Harbour, claimed the Crown’s 2013 Threat Management Plan did not give due regard to their interests as kaitiaki of the dolphin.
The tribunal found the dolphin is a taonga to the two hapu due to its endangered status, but on the evidence it was unable to conclude the Crown’s processes lacked good faith or were unreasonable.
It says as well as looking at scientific evidence on the state of the Maui’s dolphin population, the Crown was entitled to take into account wider economic, social, and cultural considerations when it created the plan.
While it was obliged to take into account the dolphin’s importance as a taonga to Maori, the Crown also owed treaty duties to Maori with fisheries interests in the Maui’s dolphin habitat.
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