Roy Eric: Marine Reserves (Consultation with Stakeholders) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Roy Eric: Marine Reserves (Consultation with Stakeholders) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
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ERIC ROY (National—Invercargill) 
: 
 I am delighted that we have received a large degree of support for the Marine Reserves (Consultation with Stakeholders) Amendment Bill at its first reading. I thank members for the generosity of their comments and I am looking forward to working on this bill in the select committee. 
Someone once said—I am not sure who the original person was because the comment has been plagiarised so frequently—that we do not inherit the environment the land or the sea from our forefathers; we borrow it from our children’s children. I think that is a sentiment that most of us have picked up on. I think that probably everybody here who has spoken today has concurred that marine reserves are important that they are an integral part as a tool in the management of our marine environment and that it is the degree to which we want to implement them that is the only difference. 
Can I just comment on one or two of the points that have been made in the course of the discussion on this bill. To Shane Jones who commented on the tragic loss in Foveaux Strait of those returning from the Titi Islands I say that yes I certainly will send the condolences of this House. In fact if it were not for this bill I would have attended the first funeral which was held this afternoon. The others are to be held this Saturday at 11 o’clock in Bluff and I will take the love and condolences of this House as Shane asked me to when I attend on that occasion. 
As far as the bill is concerned the point has been made that the process of marine reserves has largely stalled except for one stunning exception which is the Guardians of Fiordland’s Fisheries and Marine Environment and the establishment of eight marine reserves in Fiordland. That was done simply by a process of consultation. It is largely on that model as I said in my introductory remarks that I have based this bill. 
The Greens have chosen not to support this bill which I am a little bit disappointed about. Can I make a couple of comments with regard to that. Yes there is another bill at the select committee but it has been sitting there for some time and one of my intentions is to shake that with the passing of this resolution so I look forward to their support in progressing that. In terms of consultation this bill is somewhat more broad and requires a wider degree of consultation than does the 2002 bill as I read it. I think that is important. 
The other significant difference is that the bill I have introduced requires some elements of mitigation and I think certainly after speaking with members privately that there is a degree of discomfort with that among the Greens. Can I say that it is simply common sense and that if we take that out of the formula in setting marine reserves they stall and that is what has happened. Let me give members some examples. The Hon Brian Donnelly spoke of the establishment of a marine reserve at the Poor Knights Islands. The charter vessels did not want to buy into it but once it was established the mitigation was that they changed their modus operandi from catching fish to diving and looking and they did not miss out. 
 Probably a more significant example is in Fiordland where in this very hostile part of New Zealand anchorages are a key safety element. I began this part of the debate by talking about a tragedy in the Southern Ocean. What was required for those people who were opposing the marine reserves was anchorages. Every time an anchor is dropped down in some of these areas black and red corals that could be 1000 years old are being pulled up. In order to overcome that the mitigation was to create some permanent anchors. What a simple common-sense answer that is to the element of mitigation that this consultation actually requires. 
This is a common-sense bill. It requires consultation. With consultation comes success with consultation comes ownership and ownership will give the protection we need. I commend the House to vote for this legislation.