Now
and for the Future
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Minutes
of meeting - 18 August, 2000.
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option4.CO.NZ Meeting Held: August 18, 2000 10:00 am - 1:00 pm N.Z. Fishing News Level 7, 45 O'Rorke Road Penrose Attendees:
Geoff Green,
Lindsay Gregory, Sheryl Hart, Bob Burstall, Apologies: J. Marshall, Grant Dixon AGENDA: Project Leader, Paul Barnes gave a verbal agenda for the priorities of the meeting. These priorities were: To refine the principals and objectives of option4. A draft Fishing News article was tabled for discussion and included a cut out coupon. Comments were sought regarding the non-commercial fishing rights discussion document tabled at the last meeting. This discussion document is included in the option4 web site, option4.co.nz. MINUTES General Business Keith Ingram, after consultation with the Rights Working Group, informed the option4 group that he could not continue as Chairman as the Rights Working Group believed a conflict of interest was possible. Keith has maintained his interest in the option4 group and will attend all future meetings as a private individual. Keiths resignation was accepted. Priority Access and Priority Rights The initial discussions of the meeting were focused around the need for achieving public priority access to the shared fisheries over the commercial sector. It was agreed that there was also a need for a planning right to resolve issues such as are found in the snapper, kahawai, kingfish and broad bill fisheries. It was agreed that the above rights are necessary to allow for the sustainability of the fisheries and to achieve the quality of fishery desired by non-commercial fishers within those sustainablity bounds. It was noted that the planning right must be capable of protecting the portion of the stock conserved by non-commercial fisheries plans from exploitation by the commercial sector. Jeff Rommerill raised the issue of geographical boundaries as stated in the Soundings document and suggested that this should be looked at seriously by the option4 group. Paul Barnes added that the area rights that we were pursuing under objective 3 should achieve this spatial separation but the mechanics of any area right need to be debated further and refined to ensure these objectives are achieved. Bob Burstall raised the point that it is easier to make new legislation for rights than to change existing legislation. Bob was also concerned about how these rights would be obtained, developed and managed and also questioned who would be required to manage these rights. Bob's view was that funding would inevitably be required in order to manage these rights. Keith Ingram also raised the issue of Article 3 of the Treaty of Waitangi which covers the rights of ALL New Zealanders and expressed that in his opinion most Maori non-commercial fishing is done under Article 3 in preference to the explicit Traditional/Customary rights available to them. This point was confirmed by independent enquiries undertaken by Ray Everson. The group considered that this could be indicative that wide spread support from non traditional Maori may also be available to support option4. A considerable amount of debate between Bob Burstall, Keith Ingram and Paul Barnes on how the proposed priority share, priority access and planning rights could be used to resolve outstanding, existing and future issues regarding the fisheries was discussed at length. A general concensus of the entire group was that the sustainability of the fishery is paramount. Keith Ingram gave an example of how priorities were set in the past using the example of Toeheroa's. When it became obvious that the Toeheroa fishing was being harvested unsustainably and was being rapidly depleted to dangerously low levels, the commercial fishery was closed completely as a first sustainablity action. Public access was then controlled by seasonal closures, bag limits and size limits. The open seasons and bag limits were continually reduced until we arrived at a 2 day open season and a 10 bag limit. With the continuing decline in this fishery access was closed to all public harvesting excepting for Maori Traditional harvesting which has continued to this day. If this fishery ever rebuilds sufficiently to be re-opened, the public will have the first right of access and then, in the unlikely event that there is a surplus of harvestable stock available beyond the needs of Maori Traditional and the public, the commercial fishery may again be re-opened. The concensus of the group was that this was an appropriate model for the Toeheroa fishery. It was agreed by the group that the final explicit detail of how the objectives would be expressed in legislation and managed for all shared fisheries was still evolving and that initially the top priority should be given to promoting the agreed broad objectives of option4 and securing the mandate to drive these objectives forward. Membership Fees and Accountability The group agreed that the principles and objectives summarised in the coupon expressed the views of the group and defined the objectives. There were concerns raised regarding accountability to paid up members who join through the coupon and it was discussed whether there was a real need for a set membership fee to secure the mandate of the individual, club or association. Scott Macindoe also raised the point that the web site was fully capable of securing a written mandate from interested parties but was incapable of handling financial transactions. Scott was concerned that the effectiveness of the web site in securing support for option4 would be largely untapped if the fee was left in place. There was a concensus among the group that the membership fee be removed from all subsequent coupons and a voluntary donation should be put in its place. Promotion It was determined that the top priority of the group was to take the objectives of option4 and publicise them widely. It was agreed that the means of getting option4 to the public was by way of articles and coupons in newspapers and magazines, talk back radio, television, club talks, flyers, internet and membership forms through retail fishing equipment outlets. Project Leader, Paul Barnes was elected as media spokesperson for the option4 group. Funding At the last meeting Grant Dixon advised the group of the surplus of funds available from the Snapper Fighting Fund originally set up several years ago to assist with the snapper 1 court case between the Industry and the Crown. Grant suggested that the name of this fund be changed to the option4 fighting fund. The accountability of the fund would be achieved through the same trustees who successfully managed the original fund. As Grant was not available at this meeting we were unable to determine who the trustees of this fund are and exactly how much remains in this account. As soon as this information becomes available it will be made public on the web site. Scott Macindoe had approached 17 corporate sponsors since our last meeting and secured a promise of 17 corporate donations. General Considerable discussion on the finer details required to implement and manage the non-commercial fishery under option4 were discussed at length. The hand written minutes will be available at the next meeting to ensure that these points are minuted and recorded. Clarification and concensus on some aspects will be required. The next meeting
will be held: Friday, August 25, 2000 10:00 am - 11:30 am Agenda: ~ Marketing strategy of option4, funding and advertising vehicles ~ Final preparation of handouts and promotional materials ~ Distribution of promotional materials ~ Article 3 of the Treaty of Waitangi and whether or not the option4 group should use this as a tool This site will be updated as new information becomes available. WATCH THIS SPACE !!!
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