One Down Three to Go

Dear [ subscriber ]

 
Thankyou for making the effort to familiarise yourselves with the complexities of the Soundings debate the defining of the nature and extent of the right of the public to gather seafood from the marine environment.
 
If you have been wondering why we’ve been off the air we’ve been waiting for the submission review and analysis phase of the process to conclude.
 
The Public Consultation phase of the debate produced 62,117 submissions of which 61,178 supported option4. We actually received 71,467 individual submissions in favour of option4 although many of these missed the deadline for public submissions.
 
There was an independent review of the submissions. The Rights Working Group subsequently produced its report. Then the Minister of Fisheries Pete Hodgson issued a press release when he released these reports. All of these documents may be found on the option4.co.nz web site at https://option4.co.nz/Your_Rights/soundings.htm
 
Just prior to the release of this information option4 representatives met with Pete Hodgson in Auckland. Please take the time to read the full minutes of this meeting to satisfy yourselves that we are on the right track. https://option4.co.nz/Your_Rights/mins010301.htm
 
Please, feel free to reply with your comments as you see fit


Going, going, gone
Finally, last Wednesday it all happened licensing was finally, fully and completely rejected. One down, three to go. Congratulations and well done option4 supporters.
 
However, don’t for one minute think that the demise of licensing as an issue closes this debate. We must not forget, the whole Soundings process is all about the defining of the Recreational rights. Only when these rights have been defined and enshrined in clear, unambiguous legislation can we (the public) consider how they should be managed. Not beforehand.
 
option4 has already spent many hours discussing  these reports. We are in possession of copies of all submissions and are conducting our own analysis to ensure your voice has been fully accounted for. Several responses are underway.
 
There is a fair bit of reading here. Please do your best.
 
We will be reporting back to you within a week with more developments and information.
 
Whilst 2,500 of us are signed up online so far, this is only a drop in the bucket.  It is only you, our online support base, who we can afford to talk to, real time as the issues arise. So it’s over to all of us to get out there and connect with the hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders who care passionately about their rights to harvest, many of whom are simply not online. More on this next Update.
 

Thankyou for your time and effort.
The team at option4