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By Phil McCarthy |
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The Southland Times |
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5 June 2004 |
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Stewart Island
– A small step in the fight to protect marine environments
was taken yesterday with the approval of a marine reserve and mataitai
covering Paterson Inlet on Stewart Island, Conservation Minister
Chris Carter said.
The reserve will be centred on Ulva
Island and stretch 1075ha along 12km of the inlet. It will be known
as Ulva Island Marine
Reserve.
The remaining 9000ha of the
inlet would form part of a new mataitai reserve, which was also
announced yesterday on the island by Fisheries Minister David Benson
– Pope.
Crown representatives, iwi
and other invited guests gathered at Sydney Cove on Ulva Island
yesterday for a ceremony marking the culmination of more than a
decade's work on the marine reserve proposal.
"It's a small step forward,
and unless we take these steps we risk losing marine species," Mr.
Carter said.
Protecting the marine environment
was his highest priority as conservation minister, he said.
Mr. Benson-Pope said Te Whaka
a Te Wera Mataitai Reserve, a Maori fishing reserve that will be
managed by a committee, would ensure sustainable fishing around
the inlet.
There had been obstacles
to both reserve plans but hopefully any remaining opponents would
eventually recognise the need for them, he said.
"I know (the process) hasn't
been without tension and I know some of these tensions remain."
The Southland Recreational
Fishers' Association was a notable absentee at yesterday's ceremony.
The group fought unsuccessfully for a mataitai to cover the entire
inlet.
Mr Carter said more than
270 seaweed species were found in the inlet.
Five species of marine mammals
visit the inlet, including rare leopard seals and southern right
whales as do 57 species of fish and 509 species of bird.
"This is a very exciting
development in marine conservation because Paterson Inlet's crystal-clear
waters are a treasure chest of marine life."
Most importantly, it was
one of only a few sites in the world where four species of primitive
shellfish, called brachiopods or lamp shells, lived, he said.
Stewart Island resident and
former inlet protection committee chairwoman Margaret Hopkins said
people often forgot there was a special place below the ocean that
needed protection.
"All good things come to
those who wait. This has been, perhaps, the most long and drawn
out process I've been involved in," Ms Hopkins said.
Ngai Tahu deputy chairman
Edward Ellison said it was the first time a marine reserve and mataitai
had been approved at the same time in much the same location.
"The time it has taken is symbolic
I suppose of the issue and the depth of feeling involved," Mr Ellison
said.
If the Government had handled
the foreshore and seabed question with as much time and consideration
it would not face the problems now being encountered, he said.
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