Williams Andrew: Kaikōura (Te Tai-o-Marokura) Marine Management Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeWilliams Andrew: Kaikōura (Te Tai-o-Marokura) Marine Management Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 20 March 2014. Volume:697;Page:16928. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]ANDREW WILLIAMS (NZ First):I would like to take a call on behalf of New Zealand First on the Kaikōura (Te Tai-o-Marokura) Marine Management Bill. New Zealand First will also be supporting this bill of course as all parties in this House are doing. Kaikōura certainly is a special part of New Zealand. I was fortunate to visit there at the end of last year to have a look at the situation there in terms of the concerns of the Kaikōura community—in particular in relation to the seismic surveying taking place off the coast in relation to oil and gas exploration which was of great concern to the people whom I spoke to in Kaikōura. The fact is they have such a wonderful area for viewing whales plus all the other marine life in the area and they were concerned about the possible impact of some of those activities on the marine life in the area and of course by implication the possible impact if the whales were to move on or be scared away as a result and what that would do to the community in terms of tourism people visiting local economic development in the area and so on and so on. The ramifications were quite significant.So to hear that this consultation has been going on for 7 years—it is a long time but it is very good that local iwi in terms of Ngāti Kurī of Ngāi Tahu Te Rūnanga o Kaikōura; recreational fishers; the Kaikoura Boating Club; local commercial fishers including of rock lobster pāua and inshore finfish fishers; charter fishing operators; tourism operators; and the Kaikōura branch of the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society all worked together to develop the Te Korowai o Te Tai o Marokura paper and form the Te Korowai group. They came up with this over a period of years as a recommendation to the Government in 2012. It is a great initiative on behalf of that Kaikōura community to come through with that which has ended up in this piece of legislation.Also in relation to the area there is the New Zealand fur seal colony. It is quite extraordinary how when you drive down that coastline you see the seals basking in the sun on all the rocks and living so close to the road and being so accessible for humans to be able to watch them—it is quite extraordinary. Also the pool that Nicky Wagner talked about for the pups and the creches as they call them is quite extraordinary. This is a good piece of legislation that assists that whole area.The marine reserve is going to be very significant. The Hikurangi Marine Reserve of 10416 hectares is focused on the very deep waters of the canyon connects with the land for about 2 kilometres just north of Goose Bay and extends out to 23.4 kilometres off the coast. So it is a very very sizable area and no mining fishing or harvesting of any kind will be allowed in this area. This new reserve is larger and deeper than any other existing marine reserve near New Zealand’s three main islands.Then of course there is the Kaikōura whale sanctuary of 4686 square kilometres. The sanctuary will be extending 45 kilometres north and south of the Kaikōura Peninsula and 56 kilometres out to sea. This will protect the sperm humpback southern right blue killer and other whales that frequent the area and it will prohibit high-level seismic survey work in the area. So that does afford a level of protection.And then there is the Ōhau Point New Zealand fur seal sanctuary 700 metres along the coastal highway of State Highway 1 and about 50 metres to the low-water springs mark. There are something like 3000 seals in this area and this bill ensures there will not be human interference in terms of public access and ensuring that people do not actually go into those seal colonies. It was shocking a number of years ago when we had that tragic incident where a seal was battered to death in that—Hon Maryan Street: Not just one.ANDREW WILLIAMS: Just one—it was just the one?Hon Maryan Street: No several.ANDREW WILLIAMS: Several was it not? Yes. It was tragic that that happened and I think it really did highlight how elements within the community choose to operate in that way in a shocking manner when those seals themselves were so unfortunate. They are so close to human civilisation and we have to do all we can to protect them.Then of course this bill also includes provision for some customary fishing beds and restrictions on some commercial fishing in certain areas there and also new recreational fishing regulations. Recreational catch and size limits are to be tightened within the two Te Korowai areas due to the concern about unsustainable pressure on fishing stocks. Again that helps that whole marine environment in the area.New Zealand First supports this bill. There are many areas around New Zealand that need this type of assistance. Our Local Government and Environment Committee has been looking at a lot of these things including as was mentioned before this week the situation with Māui’s and Hector’s dolphins off the west coast of the North Island—in particular where the Māui’s dolphins are located there are only 55 left in the world. Again that is something that has to be looked at very very urgently in terms of how we will ensure those 55 dolphins are protected and how we can help regenerate that very very small group of dolphins and hopefully in years to come get them back up to a reasonable number. It will take 20 to 30 years just to get them back perhaps into the hundreds but they were there in the 1970s and it is a great shame that they are down to 55. Likewise the Hector’s dolphins are under pressure as well and these dolphins are found only in New Zealand. Therefore we—New Zealand as a nation—have a responsibility to protect them. New Zealand First will support this and we look forward to it coming to our select committee and to assisting this bill in its passage through this House.