Nugget Point May 2005

This letter was originally published in the Otago Daily Times 25 May 2005

THE debate about the proposed marine reserve raises issues much wider than the perceived rights of a few Kaka Point locals. Right since human habitation of these islands began, ignorance of local ecosystems has caused over-exploitation with significant adverse impacts. What Maori did for the moa, Europeans have done for most of our native forests.
   

As for the marine resource, many of us can bear witness to the adverse effects of over-exploitation in our own lifetimes - crayfish on the Chatham rise; paua in our coastal rock pools; whitebait in our east coast rivers. And most would acknowledge that stocks of our favoured fish - snapper, blue cod, groper - have all declined markedly in the past few decades. Now we learn that orange roughy, because of its slow regeneration, may be threatened as well.
   

We still have much to learn about our marine environment. Refusing to acknowledge that is like playing Russian roulette with our precious marine resource. Despite all that, it's not surprising that the proposal has caused such an outcry in Kaka Point. None of us like to have our freedom curtailed. But freedom is an enigmatic creature. The distinction needs to be made between false freedom, the freedom to do as we please and true freedom, the freedom to do as we ought.
   

We ought to be concerned about the preservation of our marine resource, not only for ourselves, but for the benefit of future generations as well. If that were our view, no doubt we would see the setting up of marine reserves as a major step in the right direction.