Horan Brendan: Subantarctic Islands Marine Reserves Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeHoran Brendan: Subantarctic Islands Marine Reserves Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 29 January 2014. Volume:696;Page:15665. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]BRENDAN HORAN (Independent): I will take a short call in this Committee stage of the Subantarctic Islands Marine Reserves Bill. At the outset I want to affirm my support for the bill which will establish marine reserves around some but not all of the waters round Antipodes Island the Bounty Islands and Campbell Island. That is good. Marine reserves are great for our oceans. In more accessible areas they attract people wanting to see the abundance of marine life.Hon Todd McClay: What would the weather be like then?BRENDAN HORAN: Just after Christmas Mr McClay I went out to White Island and it was magnificent. But what was extremely sad was that 30 years ago when I went out to White Island there was such an abundance ofyellowfin tuna. Today they are extremely rare. People are dreadfully aware of what they are dreadfully aware of. The diminishing fish stock that we have in our oceans is something that all New Zealanders should be concerned about.There is a severe risk to these new marine reserves that we are establishing tonight and indeed to all marine reserves. The risk is the hands-off approach that this John Key - led Government adopts towards maritime transport to the ships that traverse our territorial waters. There have been a number of shipwrecks over the years on the islands that we are discussing and of course near my home in Tauranga Moana we had the disastrous event when theRena met the Astrolabe Reef. Perhaps even more disastrous is the fact that this Government is doing nothing to stop the Mediterranean Shipping Co. from leaving that rotting wreck on the pristine Astrolabe Reef. As John Clarke sonotably said the front came off the ship and the front is not supposed to come off the ship.Members opposite might think that I am being alarmist with talk of anotherRena type of disaster possibly occurring in these marine reserves that we are creating tonight. But I say this to those members: let us take a brief look at the track record of the Mediterranean Shipping Co. the operator of theRena. Just 4 weeks ago the Mediterranean Shipping Co. vesselMonterey was off the coast of Newfoundland in the North Atlantic—The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch): Order! This is about those islands you identified at the beginning and about marine reserves. It is not about a shipping company with a flag overseas. Focus on the 11 clauses and the schedules of this bill.BRENDAN HORAN: Point of order—The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch): No I have ruled. You have the call.BRENDAN HORAN: OK thank you. My great concern with these islands—Antipodes Island the Bounty Islands and Campbell Island—is that they are vulnerable to pollution if one of these maritime shipping company vessels goes within even 200 kilometres of those islands. Where are the safeguards? The fact is that this Government has proven it cannot remove oil from a ship wrecked on a rock just 20 kilometres off the coast of New Zealand. What is this Government going to do if a ship strands on these islands? That is the question that I ask of those members. How do we enforce fishing regulations around those islands? How do we stop foreign vessels going there when our armed forces have been decimated by this Government?Mr Chair I do not want to get offside with you but I am extremely concerned about the risks that these ships pose to these islands so I will end here. I support this bill. Thank you.