15 May 2006
Kahawai Campaign
The Kahawai Legal Challenge team featured during a Tangaroa programme on Maori television recently. This programme has been copied onto DVD and distributed.
The Tangaroa programme will be followed up with more TV coverage, as there were two TV camera crews at the April Hokianga Accord hui. The return to Whitiora marae was a special occasion for those members of the KLC team who had been at the "Kia Timata Nga Whakawhanaungatanga" or "Let the Building of Relationships Begin" hui, at this same marae, back in May 2005.
Mark Feldman, a long-term campaigner for the sustainable use of kahawai, was at the Hokianga Accord hui at Te Tii. It was a pleasure to meet Mark as he has expended a huge amount of effort over many years advocating the need to save kahawai from excessive exploitation. His submissions along with many others can be found online at https://www.kahawai.co.nz/kahsncomm.htm
Keri Molloy, editor of The Bay Chronicle, was at the April Hokianga Accord hui and wrote an excellent article covering the event. This is now online at https://option4.co.nz/Fish_Forums/haabc406.htm
Organisers of the King of the Coromandel fishing tournament have made contact and offered the team the opportunity to have a presence at the contest. The tournament runs from Thursday 22nd June to Sunday 25th. Organisers are expecting around 1200 contestants so this would be a great opportunity to talk to present the issue to a big audience. A message has gone out to the option4, NZBGFC and NZRFC teams. To date only one person has responded as being a possibility to attend. This will need to be followed up and confirmed with Milan Radonich, director of the tournament, by the end of this month.
Kahawai Legal Challenge
Jeff Romeril provided an update on the status of the Legal Challenge to the Hokianga Accord hui.
A summary of the main points is as follows –
- The High Court hearing of the Kahawai Legal Challenge has been set down for June 6th this year and is expected to take four days to complete.
- The hearing is to hear the claim from the NZ Big Game Fishing Council and the NZ Recreational Fishing Council, which Ngapuhi has supported with a very powerful affidavit. option4 has been instrumental in providing logistical support and spearheading the fundraising campaign.
- The hearing would also include the counterclaim issued by commercial interests namely Sanford Ltd, Sealord Group Ltd and Pelagic and Tuna Ltd.
- While kahawai is the subject of the proceedings it is expected that the case would have far-reaching implications for the allocation of all inshore shared fisheries.
Key Issues
The key legal issues to be determined are:
- Setting initial Total Allowable Catches (TAC’s).
- Allowing for non-commercial and recreational fishing interests
- KAH1: The Hauraki Gulf Marine Park Act 2000
- Information principles.
Timetable
In December 2005 a timetable was set for the process leading up to the June court date. While the legal team agreed to the timetable it was up to all the parties involved in the case to comply. The commercial fishers had been slow in supplying their evidence. This could be interpreted as a delaying tactic to force the postponement of the June 6th hearing date. However, the councils involved are determined the delays would not be used to defer the judicial review.
At the time of the hui the legal team considered the delays were not at a point that would compromise the hearing date. However, the delay in receiving evidence from commercial interests has meant the Minister and Ministry of Fisheries have not had time to file their responses.
April 21st was set as the last day the recreational sector had to respond to the counter claims by commercial interests and the Minister/Ministry. That commitment was not met due to the lack of complete evidence from commercial interests and no evidence from the Minister/Ministry. A revised timetable is expected from the legal team soon.
The recreational councils believe the case is very strong and are confident in the evidence gathered to date, and the ability of the legal team to focus on the main issues and not be distracted by efforts to widen the case and divert attention away from the core issues.
Conclusion
Jeff explained that the claim sought to obtain clear rulings from the High Court that non-commercial fishing interests are not limited to estimates of existing catch or some fixed proportion of total catch.
The announcement of the Shared Fisheries Policy project made it important that non-commercial fishers obtain rulings that would be helpful to future policy development and future fisheries management decisions.
The real question needed to be asked of the Ministry and Minister as to why they were proceeding with the Shared Fisheries Policy allocation process before a ruling had been given from the court on the meaning of section 21 of the Fisheries Act. A full report of the hui will be online soon at https://option4.co.nz/Fish_Forums/har406.htm
option4 has been managing the fundraising aspects of the campaign supporting the Kahawai Legal Challenge.
The primary fundraising tool is the Kahawai Booklet. If you want to get involved and raise donations please call our help team on 0800 KAHAWAI (52 42 92).
A snappy navy Kahawai Challenge t-shirt is available for $20 by calling
0800 KAHAWAI (52 42 92). Most sizes available.
If you require assistance or would like to know more please call our team on
0800 KAHAWAI (52 42 92).
A quick $20 donation can be made by dialling 0900 KAHAWAI (52 42 92).
This will be debited to your phone account.
Visit the website www.kahawai.co.nz to order your Booklet online and make a secure online donation.
Please send your Booklets and/or donations to:
Kahawai Challenge Fund
c/o NZ Fishing News, Freepost 131323, PO Box 12-965, Penrose, Auckland. |
