Definition
of New Proposal Challenged
By Glenn
Conway
This
article was originally published in the Otago Daily Times 13 April
2005
Residents at odds
with conservation minister . Nugget Point
Balclutha:
Moves to form a Nugget Point guardians group instead of establishing
a marine reserve there may already be dead in the water, but local
people are threatening legal action to argue their point.
Conservation Minister
Chris Carter has said he supports a new planning process involving
environmental and fishing groups, councils, and government agencies
when planning marine management in their areas, but only for new
proposals.
In a recent speech, he
described the proposed Nugget Point marine reserve as an "advanced"
proposal, but one of the men keen to form a Nuggets guardians
group disputes the minister's definition of what is a new or old
proposal.
The Department of Conservation
(Doc) first applied for a Nugget Point marine reserve in 1992.
It was later shelved for several reasons, but Doc has confirmed
it will lodge a fresh application to Mr Carter next month.
Tourism Catlins chairman
Lionel Mason, who wants a local guardians group set up, said next
month's application would clearly be for a new reserve.
"It has new boundaries.-There
has been an albeit flawed consultation process, all based around
a new-look reserve. It's not an old proposal. It is a totally
new one."
Mr Carter has kept out
of the Nugget Point debate as he is a key statutory decisionmaker.
But in a recent speech he supported a collective approach to managing
marine environments. He wants a new region-by-region planning
process in which Doc, the Ministry of Fisheries, environmental
and fishing groups, Maori and local councils decide the need for
and nature of marine protection in their area.
This would allow sensible
trade-offs and compromises between groups - exactly the concept
mooted by the Nuggets group.
Mr Mason said it seemed
those seeking a guardians group and the minister were "on the
same wavelength" and it was a shame the only thing that separated
them from initiating the same concept at Nugget Point was a definition
of what was an old and what was a fresh application.
"I think if we took this
to court, we could easily prove this is a fresh, brand-new application
down at the Nuggets."
A member of the Guardians
of Fiordland Fisheries and Marine Environment, Otago conservationist
Dr Alan Mark, has questioned if those seeking a Nuggets guardians
group fully represent stakeholders and interested parties.
The would-be guardians
include commercial and recreational fishers, tourism interests
and local landowners, but Dr Mark said membership should be open
to all people with an involvement or interest in the area if it
was to be modelled on the Fiordland group.
"Moreover, their representatives
should be formally elected for the role by their particular groups,"
he said in a statement.
In Nugget Point's case,
this meant commercial and recreational fishers, tourism interests
and the local community and Ngai Tahu and marine scientists.
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