September 04, 2017
Seabed mining threat to treaty fishing rights
Te Ohu Kaimoana says seabed mining will reduce the value of Maori fisheries settlement assets.
The Maori fisheries settlement trust is one of several Maori, environmental and fishing industry groups appealing the consent for Trans Tasman Resources to scrape 50 million tonnes a year of ironsand off the South Taranaki Bight.
Chief executive Dion Tuuta says the Environment Protection Authority has erred in the way it has interpreted the Exclusive Economic Zone Act, because it allowed the application to go ahead without baseline studies which would have allowed the effect of the mining to be assessed.
The decision claims the impact on fisheries won't be significant, but Mr Tuuta says it will affect quota held by iwi.
"There could be a devaluing of the value of Maori interests in that area. That is undermining the settlement. It is taking away value that belongs to iwi in that particular part of the country, and one of the roles of Te Ohu Kaimoana is to advance Maori interests in fishing, not to put up with their interests being devalued," Mr Tuuta says.
The two authority members who opposed the consent highlighted the concerns of Maori submitters.
Copyright © 2017, UMA Broadcasting Ltd: www.waateanews.com