Hauraki
Gulf Forum
Meeting Report
18 June 2003
Venue:
Auckland Regional Council chambers, Auckland City
Date: Wednesday 18th June 2003
Chair: Hugh Leersnyder, Auckland Regional Council
Duration: 2.5 hours
Attendance: 52 people
Forum Business
Item A.1 Minutes from previous meeting on 11th December 2002 passed.
Item B.1 Presentation by Keir Volkerkig, Ngatiwai, on tangata whenua
rights and responsibilities in Tikapa Moana and Te Moananui O Toi. Forum
agreed to urge the crown representatives to advise the government on
the issue of nature and extent of treaty rights to the marine environment.
Item C.1 Powerpoint presentation by John Duthie, Auckland City Council
Planning Manager regarding the Hauraki Gulf Islands Strategic Plan.
Forum received the report.
Note – No mention of recreational fishing or recognition of the
public fishing for food.
Item C.2 Marine Reserves – Rob McCallum,
Conservator, Department of Conservation (DoC) Auckland.
DoC has two roles
- Recognise marine reserve applications and process them
- Hand those applications onto the Minister of Conservation
- DoC can also promote their own proposals
Quotes by Rob McCallum
Great Barrier Island
Current Great Barrier Island proposal is a large one
Issue had received a lot of airtime in the media.
There are undersea reefs out to the 10-mile limit within the proposal
boundaries.
This had been a long process started in the early 1990’s; it was
shelved in 1993 due to no money.
DoC had been consulting with Ngati Rehua for 6 months, both formally
and informally.
Ngati Rehua have yet to respond formally
DoC had been consulting with Ngatiwai since February 2003.
9000 brochures had been distributed, invitations had been sent out to
140 groups offering to be briefed by DoC on the proposal.
Submission return figures change daily but they had received around
200 submissions and around 60% of returns are supportive of a marine
reserve on the northeast coast of the Barrier.
Lots of those at meetings are saying, 'I will support a marine reserve
with the lines changed on the map.'
DoC will look to review those lines
This marine reserve will be put through under the current legislation,
the 1971 Act.
Tiritiri Matangi
There are two other proposals currently; the NZUA proposal at Tiritiri
had received around 9000 submissions. The Tiri Action Group were responsible
for 6,600 of these. NZ Underwater are currently analysing the submissions.
They have now gone back to iwi to consult on ‘where to from here?’
He hadn’t heard about progress lately.
Tawharanui
There was confusion in the public mind about what you can do, what you
can’t do in the marine park
Auckland Regional Council are going to change the status to clear up
that confusion.
DoC are expecting
an application (for a marine reserve) at some time for this issue.
West Coast
DoC are providing advice to Forest and Bird and separately to the West
Coast Working Group, for protection on the west coast.
Marine Environment
98.5% of the marine environment is not under any form of protection
in the Hauraki Gulf Forum area. The government is committed to see 10%
of the marine environment protected; we think this is a good place to
start.
Councillor Brown -asked a question regarding the 200
submissions received
RM – we expect several thousand by the end of
next week, we haven’t analysed the submissions yet. Hadn’t
looked at where they were from, whether they were from residents, visitors
or someone from Invercargill. The important part was how residents in
the catchment area were affected; those people will get largest say.
Councillor Cole – question about the new legislation
(Marine Reserves Bill), will there be a problem with this proposal
RM – I’m not an expert on the new legislation,
but I wouldn’t want to change horses half way through the race.
Councillor Storer – the vast majority of marine
reserves being proposed are in Auckland, what about the South Island?
RM – there are several marine reserve proposals
in action. DoC’s main role is receiving applications; we don’t
know who is going to walk through the door with a proposal tomorrow,
although we do provide advice. The number of applications in process
at the moment are in the single digits. The Catlins and the west coast
of the South Island are ideas; no one is working on them.
Councillor Storer – the vast majority of households
don’t enjoy fish in their diets, what about the little guy losing
his right to (go) fishing, what about restrictions on commercial fishing.
DoC could work in tandem with the fishing industry and the government.
RM - the Ministry of Fisheries manages fishing. Marine
Reserves are marine ecosystem management tools. They are for protecting
marine ecosystems. We have, and in the future, the science to prove
that marine ecosystems work. I can’t buy into the argument that
the little guy is being affected. Only 1.17% of the area is in marine
reserves. With the Great Barrier Island proposal, the people who live
on the island are the most affected so have the biggest say. Iwi have
been consulted about the shellfish beds, but I don’t agree that
the little guy is affected.
Councillor Smith – If DoC are the approver of
these reserves, how are these three proposals being resourced?
RM – Brochures have been paid for by DoC, for
the Barrier; For Tiritiri the NZUA made a contribution, they have received
financial support for their process from DoC.
Councillor Smith – Could it be said that DoC
is the funding party for marine reserve applications?
RM – Not exactly, I don’t know of any apart
from NZ Underwater, they got themselves in quite deep. Te Makutu and
Forest and Bird, thousands of hours had gone into this process.
Councillor Smith – What is the difference between
a marine park and a marine reserve?
RM – the only thing you can’t do in a marine
reserve is take. Marine parks have different rules. At Tawharanui, that’s
a no take marine park, this is confusing and we are wanting to tidy
that up for fishermen.
Councillor Smith – who are you going to talk
to about the Barrier?
RM – we’re interested in talking to people
who make submissions, but not limited to them. This is definitely an
open process. The residents of the island have more say.
Councillor Burrill – We have Auckland, Whangarei
and Tauranga, has the Department made any effort to reach these communities?
RM – letters have gone to 140 organisations saying
here’s the proposal, do you want to talk about it? We have been
as far south as Whitianga, far north as Leigh and as far as Laingholm
in the west.
Councillor Burrill – Laingholm is in the Manukau,
have you organised any meetings in the Hauraki Gulf area?
RM – if we have received and invitation to go,
we haven’t missed one yet.
Councillor Burrill – have you had a meeting on
the mainland, in the Auckland municipal area?
RM – I can’t say, if a group or fishing
club has asked we have gone.
Councillor Burrill – The brochures, when were
these sent out?
RM - the Great Barrier Island residents were sent theirs
months ago, at the beginning of the process. The wider community a bit
later, some went out in magazines two weeks ago. Some went to clubs
and trust boards.
Councillor Burrill – More than half of the brochures
only went out two weeks ago?
RM – we sent some to magazines, we don’t
know when they send them out.
Councillor Burrill – if people only got their
brochure two weeks ago, how can they respond?
RM – if people need more time, they can have
more time. The people of the island have said, let’s get this
reserve going.
The report from DoC was received by the Forum
Item C.3 Whale Ship Strikes in the Hauraki Gulf
Bill Trusewick (DoC) presented a report regarding whale strikes by ships
in the Gulf area.
Item C.4 Intertidal Shellfish Depletion Project Report
ARC representative gave a progress report on this project. Report was
received.
Item C.5 Constituent Party Report
Discussion from various representatives regarding reports filed. Reports
were received.
Item D. Open Forum Session
Jane West - Ngati Whatua, addressed Forum members regards
the current discussions occurring at national level. Oceans policy,
Marine Reserve Bill, other issues affecting tangata whenua. Spoke about
her concerns surrounding the Tiritiri Matangi marine reserve proposal
and the lack of a coordinated effort to resolve marine protection issues.
Scott Macindoe – option4, addressed Forum members
about tangata whenua, alternatives to marine reserves, specifically
Maori management tools.
Consultation was lacking in all of the marine reserve proposals we had
been involved with. The people of the Barrier had demonstrated at four
public meetings that only 16 of 318 attendees supported the DoC proposal,
yet DoC are claiming ‘strong support’ on the island.
The questionnaire distributed by DoC had leading questions, question
four was so vague, ‘ Do you support the principle of a marine
reserve somewhere on the northeast coast of Great Barrier Island? “How
can the public sort fact from fallacy?”
Scott also referred to Rob McCallum’s figure of 98.5% of the Gulf
area being unprotected when in fact if you take into consideration the
shipping lanes, cable zones and other no take areas there is a considerable
amount of the marine environment that are no fishing zones.
Kathy Walsh – Kaiaua residents and ratepayers
representative, discussed the impact of mussel farming in the Firth
of Thames area on the local people.
Meeting closed 3.35pm
TOP
