Marine Reserves (Consultation with Stakeholders) Amendment Bill

I move, That the Marine Reserves (Consultation with Stakeholders) Amendment Bill be now read a first time. I am very happy to promote this bill to the House. The bill has really come out of seeing a model working, and working in a particular area, with quite startling outcomes. There have been some very, very good results from what has been achieved in the Fiordland area—but I will talk more about that later. I thank spokespeople from the various parties who have shown an interest in this bill, and those who have consulted with me during the process today. I thank them for their interest.

Initially, I will say a few things about marine reserves. I do not believe that there should be an arbitrary percentage of the economic zone in a marine reserve. I think that if we are to adopt that, we are admitting failures in a number of areas. In 1996 the Fisheries Act was rewritten to embrace the purposes and principles of sustainability, and that is what underpins the management of the marine areas of New Zealand. Sustainability must come first. Marine reserves are important—they are an important tool—but they fit alongside a number of other mechanisms that are embraced in that legislation: mātaitai reserves, tai-ā-pure, fisheries management plans, total allowable catch management of the fishery, and a whole number of mechanisms that are there. Marine reserves are an important part of that. There is a rational argument that we should preserve some parts of our marine environment untouched and unmodified. There is a rational argument that there are fragile areas that need protection—and I am thinking of some of the black and red corals that exist in Fiordland, and of similar examples around New Zealand. These need to be protected, and the marine reserve may well be the best mechanism for doing that. There are places in the marine reserve that are high recruitment areas where fish go to spawn. I can think of a number of areas like that where a marine reserve may well be the appropriate mechanism of protection. There are some iconic locations in our marine environment where placing a marine reserve over those locations increases the prestige and enhances the value of those particular areas. So marine reserves are important.

So the question arises as to why this particular bill is necessary. If we look at our track record of the process of setting up marine reserves and at how many marine reserves have been established, particularly in recent days, we can see that it is, indeed, a very tortuous process. In some instances there were quite lengthy and quite polarised opinions, quite a degree of acrimony and, indeed, some isolation. In fact, in the last 7 years under this Labour Government 13 marine reserves have been established. Now, that may sound—

💬 Hon Chris Carter: Sixteen.

Well, I am corrected. My researcher tells me 13. Well, if it is 16 that is fine. The interesting thing is that eight of these marine reserves were established in Fiordland by the process upon which the Marine Reserves (Consultation with Stakeholders) Amendment Bill is modelled. Simply, this bill requires consultation with all stakeholders. We are saying that every stakeholder is important in the establishment. We have had situations whereby stakeholders have not considered their worth as being equal and in many cases have felt isolated, so they have taken a position of antagonism towards marine reserves.

The situation in Fiordland was that all the stakeholders said that it is a precious and unique area and that they needed to do some things to manage it. That was the concept around which they gathered. There were commercial operators who were in tourism and fishing, recreational boaties, fishermen, iwi, and conservationists. A range of people simply got together and set up the Guardians of Fiordland’s Fisheries and Marine Environment. Yes, they got some help from a few people with specialities in the area to guide and lead them, but essentially it was a homespun solution to a very unique and precious part of New Zealand.

Out of that came the recognition that we need to have protection over some areas, and that the best way to do that is to have marine reserves. In one piece of legislation eight marine reserves were established, simply because consultation was taken seriously and all the parties who had an interest in that particular area were consulted. I think that is an absolutely stunning result. There we have an example whereby half of the marine reserves that have been established in the last 7 years were achieved by the group that had total consultation in the area. So I say that it is absolutely necessary that we consider the importance of individual stakeholders in establishing a marine reserve.

This bill requires that consultation. I am aware that there is a Marine Reserves Bill 2002 that is parked in the Local Government and Environment Committee, so at the conclusion of the debate on this particular bill—and I presume that it will be successful—I will move that it go to the Local Government and Environment Committee. It is my expectation that this bill will stimulate some result and that we may see the more complete Marine Reserves Bill come back on to the Table. I notice that the Minister of Conservation is nodding. That will be my second objective in putting in this bill, and I want to see some action on this.

Where this bill differs slightly in process to the Marine Reserves Bill is in relation to Part 4 of the Marine Reserves Bill, regarding the consultation and establishment process. I say to members that they might like to consider, in particular, clauses 46 to about 53. The bill that I am promoting ramps up the process of consultation with those stakeholders.

I am happy to promote this bill. I believe that it will be a significant step forward. I live between two areas that have totally different approaches. On one side of me is Nugget Point, and the Minister Clayton Cosgrove, I am sure, will recognise the agony that has been gone through around that process. Having met with those people—[Interruption] I know that the member for Waimakariri is indeed interested in this bill. He cannot contain himself; he is so excited to promote it. He may care just to listen and learn from the example. What I am saying is that in Nugget Point there is a totally polarised position whereby the local community is not in favour of it. Some are in favour and some are not, but, essentially, they feel disenfranchised. On the other side, in Fiordland, where there was complete involvement by a whole range of stakeholders, there are now eight marine reserves, just like that.

Probably one of the key aspects in including this wider consultation is that if the community is involved, they take ownership of the outcome. In taking ownership of that outcome they actually value that outcome, and that will be one of the key protection items in maintaining compliance with a marine reserve. Many of these marine reserves are in quite isolated areas. One can think of up around the islands to the north of New Zealand, of the subantarctic, and of Fiordland. We do not actually have a lot of fisheries officers there to monitor and ensure the protection of and compliance with what a marine reserve establishes. So if we have a buy-in from the community, they will ensure the compliance with what is necessary to maintain that marine reserve.

I commend this bill to the House. I thank members who have shown an interest in it. I look forward to seeing it progress through the Local Government and Environment Committee, and also look forward to the Marine Reserves Bill 2002 being reconsidered so that we might have some sensible outcomes with one tool. That is important to the management of our marine environment.

The Government will support the Marine Reserves (Consultation with Stakeholders) Amendment Bill. As the previous speaker, who is sponsoring the bill, Eric Roy, said, New Zealand has a biologically rich and complex marine environment.

💬 Hon Tau Henare: I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. Sometimes members’ interjections are nice and witty. The accusation by “Mini Mike Moore” over there that I should be bouncing away in a bar is absolutely horrendous. I ask you, Madam Assistant Speaker, to get him to withdraw and apologise.

💬 Hon Clayton Cosgrove: I withdraw and apologise.

I realise I have just a couple of minutes to go. In 2 weeks’ time, when the bill comes back, I will be in Kiribati visiting the third-largest marine protected area in the world, which was declared as such a few weeks ago by the Government of that Pacific Island State.

Marine protection is something that all countries of the world with a coastline and marine area are absolutely passionate about. New Zealand has the world’s fourth-largest marine zone—a zone that is 15 times larger than our land area—and contained within that unique biological area are some 15,000 species, most of which are endemic to our region. It is absolutely critical that we protect them. Marine reserves provide one tool for doing that.

Mr Roy is correct: the Marine Reserves Bill has been sitting with the Local Government and Environment Committee for a long time. I hope his bill, which I support, will stimulate progress on that legislation. There is a real opportunity for the consultative processes that he has incorporated into his bill to be weaved into the Marine Reserves Bill, because the bills contain many similar provisions. Also, of course, the Government has declared its marine protected area strategy, which I launched last year with the Minister of Fisheries. The strategy is all about creating an environment where key stakeholders—recreational fishers, commercial fishers, iwi, local government, and conservationists—work together to create just the sort of outcome that Mr Roy described in respect of Fiordland.

Debate interrupted.

The House adjourned at 10 p.m.