Clendon David: Maori Commercial Aquaculture Claims Settlement (Regional Agreements) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
Clendon David: Maori Commercial Aquaculture Claims Settlement (Regional Agreements) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:659;Page:8360] 
DAVID CLENDON (Green) 
: 
 The Greens are pleased to make a short speech on the Maori Commercial Aquaculture Claims Settlement (Regional Agreements) Amendment Bill and to continue to support it through the House. 
The 2004 Maori Commercial Aquaculture Claims Settlement Act which this bill seeks to amend was seen by some as an indication of the Crown’s willingness to deal fairly and even generously with Maori in respect of settling Treaty claims. But it may be more accurate to suggest that the display of generosity has been from Maori who in accepting Treaty settlements have typically acknowledged the present-day reality and agreed to accept much less than the real value of the assets that were lost over generations of Treaty violations. It is to the credit of the affected iwi in this instance that they have been both diligent and determined in pursuing an equitable outcome to this matter while also being amenable to a negotiated outcome. 
As we know under the provisions of the principal Act Maori were allocated 20 percent of marine aquaculture space as settlement of their claims in this area the allocation being for marine aquaculture space approved from 1992 to 2004—described as pre-commencement space. Iwi still have the right to 20 percent of all new space created from January 2005. The difficulty has been in providing Maori with that entitlement. 
In looking at the reason for that it is worth considering the issue of coastal management more generally and worth recalling some of the commentary from relevant articles of Agenda 21 which emerged from the Rio Earth Summit as long ago as 1992. It was noted then that “current approaches to the management of marine and coastal resources have not always proved capable of achieving sustainable development and coastal resources and the coastal environment are being rapidly degraded and eroded in many parts of the world.” It goes on to say that “Systematic collection of data on marine environmental parameters will be needed to apply integrated management approaches …”. Clearly that commentary and indeed criticism of coastal management generally is applicable in New Zealand some 17 years later when not too much has changed in terms of the condition of our coastal environment where the trend is still towards degradation and other negative outcomes. This is despite the undoubted attachment to and fondness for the coastal environment so often expressed by New Zealanders of all ethnicities. Sadly we continue to have a very poor record of stewardship. 
Some of the extraordinarily vehement opposition revealed in recent years both at a Government level and in the public domain more generally is in regard to Maori asserting any rights to use or management of the coastal resource. It is all the more surprising when one considers what a very poor job successive central and local governments and other interests have done of maintaining the integrity and quality of that resource. Clearly there have been not only significant political and economic barriers but also scientific barriers to the advancement of aquaculture and to Maori participation in it. Aquaculture is a relatively modern option and in some ways an inferior option to the natural harvest of seafood but clearly a major economic opportunity exists for all those concerned to meet the requirements and preferences. 
New Zealand has been particularly slow to establish useful baseline data for environmental management generally and coastal management in particular largely due to the fact that the acquisition of good scientific data is hampered by the peculiar quasi-commercial structure of our Crown research institutes. Research into aquaculture done recently by the coastal marine group at Waikato University has observed that inferior site location is one of the most common reasons for the double whammy of aquaculture failure as a business venture and the accompanied adverse environmental effects and that good new sites in sheltered bays and harbours are becoming increasingly rare necessitating a move to find optimal sites in open coastal locations. The Waikato research has been useful to the extent that it provides some characteristics enabling computer-based analysis and identification of potential aquaculture sites but the reality is that it can identify optimal conditions but cannot create more of them. Although the principal Act assures iwi of access to a percentage of all new space it is important when that allocation is made that issues of quality and viability are not overlooked. 
This bill amends the principal Act enabling the Crown to enter into negotiated regional agreements with relevant iwi and provides a legal framework for these settlements to be rolled out. Essentially this enables the Crown to provide cash rather than marine-farming space to Maori in terms of aquaculture settlements. Although this is a positive outcome it falls some way short of enabling the engagement of iwi as active players in the aquaculture industry. As noted in a number of first reading speeches the iwi implicated in this bill are mana whenua so are entrusted with both the rights and the responsibilities that this status entails. Active management of the physical resource would always be a preferred option given the strong cultural as well as economic significance of kai moana but the cash payments will however certainly provide a range of opportunities to the affected parties. That is an outcome that the Greens will be happy to continue to support. Thank you.