March 31, 2017
New found fisheries unity welcomed.
Former Te Ohu Kaimaona chair Shane Jones says this week’s Maori Fisheries Conference and AGM shows a sector in good heart and looking to a strong future.
Mr Jones efforts theses days focus on Te Moananaui a Kiwa through his mahi as New Zealand’s Ambassador for Pacific Island Development.
But he says the Maori fisheries settlement is an important part of New Zealand’s fisheries story, and he was please to detect a softening of attitude towards Te Ohu Kaimoana after the tension and turmoil of recent years.
"At one stage there was a strong push to disestablish Te Ohu Kaimoana, a mad idea I thought at the time, but I feel the people at the Novotel this week were expressing we need a strong central body, professionally run, that remains vigilant and an advocate for our kaumatua, our iwi, our hapu and in particular our future generations, and that is not going to happen by atomising Maori effort," Mr Jones says
FULL INTERVIEW WITH SHANE JONES
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