Kaikōura (Te Tai o Marokura) Marine Management Bill

I firstly want to say that the Kaikōura (Te Tai o Marokura) Marine Management Bill being the very last bill passed by the 50th Parliament is something that in my view all parties of this Parliament should take pride in. It is actually possible only because of the cross-party agreement that has been reached. I want to acknowledge the Hon Ruth Dyson for her support, which is enabling us to take this measure. I know she has been a supporter of improved marine management across our New Zealand coastline. I also want to acknowledge Eugenie Sage and the Green Party. I note that Supplementary Order Paper 481, which I have tabled in my name, brings forward the review of these Kaikōura marine management measures from the period of 25 years that is in the bill to 10 years, which is part of a compromise that enables this bill to be passed today.

This is actually a very significant bill. I note that the Chairman is one who has a passion for marine life—or, generally, hunting it—like crayfish. The bill actually creates New Zealand’s largest whale sanctuary, a sanctuary of over 5,000 square kilometres. That whale sanctuary could not be placed in a more appropriate place in New Zealand than Kaikōura. That is a place in which every New Zealander takes pride in the development of whale-watching, and particularly the way in which a local rūnanga and Ngāi Tahu have developed an incredibly successful globally recognised tourism business with Whale Watch Kaikōura, which has not only benefited Whale Watch Kaikōura but completely rejuvenated that community of Kaikōura.

I also say that this bill provides for New Zealand’s very first seal sanctuary. The truth is that the very first interaction between Europeans, Māori, and these islands was from the wholesale slaughter of fur seals at an incredible scale of not millions but hundreds of millions. This bill provides for the very first area of New Zealand fur seal sanctuary. I would invite any member of this Committee to visit Ōhau Point to watch the baby seals play in the waterfall where I was 3 or 4 weeks ago with my own family—just to see the joy of hundreds of New Zealanders and visitors who see that very special experience of baby seals playing in a waterfall. It is an experience that is actually listed in that global magazine Lonely Planet as one that every person on the planet should experience and enjoy.

This bill also provides for the biggest marine reserve adjacent to the New Zealand main islands, the North Island and the South Island.

💬 Hon David Parker: What about the Kermadecs?

The new marine reserve—and I am happy, Mr Parker, to respond to your point, but I want to talk just about the Kaikōura marine reserve. It will be the largest marine reserve on the North Island or the South Island. It will go to the deepest waters. I think that marine reserve is very well justified. I do not think that many New Zealanders appreciate that the marine life in that Kaikōura trench so close to our mainland islands is the richest of anywhere on the globe. In fact, my Department of Conservation scientists have said that the second-most abundant marine life at depths greater than 1,500 metres has less than 1/500th of the abundance of marine life that is in that Kaikōura trench. It is absolutely right that we are protecting it.

To respond quickly to the interjection from David Parker about the Kermadec Islands, the Government’s position on the Kermadec Islands is that when you make decisions about marine protections and other use, you need knowledge. That is why the Government is spending extensive money with the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research and also with other partnerships to actually get better information about both the conservation resources that are in the Kermadec Islands as well as the economic potential so that we can make a well-informed decision. It is the Government’s view that the Kermadec Islands are an area where there needs to be additional marine protection, particularly with those “black smokers”, the volcanic vents that exist in that area. It is our view that whether we are privileged to be the Government, or, dare I fear it, the Opposition, we would be supportive post the election of making progress on that front as well for marine protection.

The other part of this bill provides for both mātaitai and taiāpure reserves for Ngāi Tahu and its local rūnanga. It also makes provision for significant reductions in recreational catches in that Kaikōura area.

My last point would be to pay tribute to the collaborative process that has delivered these measures. I make no apologies for saying that New Zealand makes better progress around marine and other conservation issues by getting warring factions together and coming to an agreement. If there was anywhere in New Zealand where we should celebrate a successful outcome of that, it is here at Kaikōura. When I went to Kaikōura 20 years ago and talked about marine reserves, I attended a public meeting of over a hundred people where there had to be a police presence, such was the tension between the protagonists and the antagonists around these sorts of measures. The fact that the Kaikōura community has come to a 100 percent agreement on this is a remarkable achievement. I say on this last bill on the last day of this 50th Parliament that it is equally true that we should take some pride in there being unanimous agreement by Parliament on these marine protection measures.

The last thing I wish to say is I want to pay a tribute to retiring Kaikōura MP, Colin King. He got me out in a wetsuit even before he was an MP—

💬 Iain Lees-Galloway: It’s not retirement as such when you de-select a guy.

—because he wanted to see progress being made on this bill. Well, we have a contestable, open process in National. [Interruption] Actually, I tell the members opposite that the new candidate for Kaikōura, Stuart Smith, will be an outstanding member of Parliament for that community. He is strongly supported by Colin King. We are a party that is going through rejuvenation. I would remind members on the Opposition benches that they could learn from the experience of Kaikōura as to how to run candidate selections with class and democracy, the way in which the National Party runs them. I know that Colin King takes great pride that on his very last day in Parliament he is seeing a dream and a vision of what would take place in his community being brought to fruition. Finally, I do want to acknowledge Ruth Dyson and Eugenie Sage for the agreement that has been reached on this bill to enable its passage today.

Mr Chairman, can I first of all briefly take the opportunity to acknowledge you and your role in this Parliament as you head into the last few hours of your time, and say how your fairness, guidance, and gentle sense of humour have been greatly appreciated by this House, as has your sense of dress. Your pink shirts show leadership as a Southern Man, and I particularly want to acknowledge that.

I agree with the Minister of Conservation, who has just resumed his seat, that the Kaikōura (Te Tai o Marokura) Marine Management Bill is a very good note, as Parliament moves towards the end of this 50th session—it is not the last bill; there is another one on the Order Paper after this—to nearly end this session of Parliament on. Can I acknowledge the four Ministers of Conservation who have progressed this legislation: the Hon Chris Carter, the Hon Steve Chadwick, the Hon Kate Wilkinson, and the Hon Nick Smith, who is now seeing it into the final stages before it concludes in its third reading.

I also want to add my acknowledgment of Colin King, who has, as the local member of Parliament for Kaikōura—prior to being dumped by the National Party—strongly supported this legislation. I think it is a good thing that the Minister urged other parties in Parliament to support its progress so that Colin King could still be a member of Parliament during the third and final reading of this legislation. I was very happy to support this initiative by that MP.

I want to acknowledge the Kaikōura Coastal Marine Guardians, who for 7 years have worked, following a request from the Minister of Conservation at the start of that time, to make this perhaps unthinkable agreement a reality. The Minister is right that such areas of proposed protections are often the cause of huge division in a community. In this instance, through a lot of goodwill, a lot of common sense, and a lot of hard work, the agreement has been reached, and we are now able to progress a large area of marine protection. It is not perhaps what best practice would have dictated if it had been done from central direction rather than from a locally driven agreement, but it is a huge step forward, and the fact that it has got the agreement of all parties means that it is more likely to be enduring.

The fact that the Minister supported, through his Supplementary Order Paper 481, a change to the length of time for the review from 25 years to 10 years was, I think, a good thing, and I assume that the guardians are supportive of that, as well. I think that the general provision of review of marine protection is good as long as it is not one that then opens up that division again. The Minister nodded as I gently requested confirmation that the guardians are in agreement with that review. I think that it is a very good step, and we will be supporting it.

I also want to acknowledge the Local Government and Environment Committee. We held hearings on this legislation in Kaikōura. I think it was great that we went to the local area. We were obviously surrounded by the beauty of that part of New Zealand, but we were also very much aware of the passion, the energy, and the commitment the local people who made submissions on this bill have for their coastline. The pride, the understanding, the knowledge, and the commitment they had made to put aside many differences and work collaboratively together were very obvious during our day of hearings. I want to acknowledge the select committee for the respectful way we heard the submissions and the contributions made by the submitters.

I also want to acknowledge the officials. They worked hard; I think they enjoyed it. We are probably one of the most satisfying committees to work with because we put quite a lot of energy into our consideration. The officials were very responsive to our requests, some of which they might have felt were a little bit obscure. For example, we were very puzzled by the differences—and I know this is one that exercised the mind of my colleague Moana Mackey—in the measurements that are undertaken by different departments, and whether the measurements go to two or three decimal points, or one, and what difference that makes to the actual measurement of the coverage of the marine protected area. So I want to acknowledge and thank the officials for their work.

This bill establishes marine reserves of different types around the Kaikōura Coast—the whale sanctuary that the Minister referred to in his contribution, and the New Zealand fur seal sanctuary. As the Minister alluded to, we think of times when fur seals were part of the produce of New Zealand, and now we so much enjoy being able to see the pups and their transition to adult life, and being able to drive down the coast and see the fur seals at close hand—not too close, though, because they are not pets. It is a very fortunate thing for us. Many countries are very jealous of our ability to show off our animals in that way. We have different types of marine protection. We have sanctuaries as we know them, but we also have the taiāpure and the mātaitai. The bill establishes an advisory committee, and I think that that is a good model to hold. I look forward to seeing how that, as the model for marine protection, develops and whether there are some opportunities for other areas to take advantage of that. Obviously, there are also fisheries regulations that are specific to this area.

It is a pleasure for me, as the Labour conservation spokesperson, to be able to put Labour’s name alongside supporters of this area and to say that even though significant concerns were raised with the select committee by people who know this area of science very well that this bill is not in accordance with best practice—and I take those concerns seriously—we considered that the work that was done over so many years, under request from four Ministers of Conservation consecutively, deserves the respect of responsive support from this Parliament. Had there been different instructions given to the guardians or had the rules changed part-way through, there may have been a different consideration, but it is our view that the work that the guardians have undertaken, in an area that they know best and that offers much better protection than we currently have, and with the opportunity for a review in just a decade’s time, is certainly worthy of support.

I think that the changes that the select committee made improved the original legislation. Combined with the Supplementary Order Paper that the Minister is offering, they give us something for this whole Parliament to be proud of, something that has been worked on for many years, and something that will have a great third reading to go through in these final stages of the House, as we progress this Committee stage and move to the third reading shortly afterward. Thank you.

Kia ora, Mr Chair, ngā mihi nui ki a koutou, kia ora. It is fantastic that in the last hours of this Parliament we are seeing marine reserve and marine protection laws passing through our Parliament. So I would like to do a round of thanks—thanks to the Minister of Conservation, thanks to the officials, and thanks to the chair of the Local Government and Environment Committee, Maggie Barry, who was actually a very surprisingly good chair. I would like to thank all the members, all the submitters, and most of all I would like thank Te Korowai, the collaborative group that worked in Kaikōura to develop the policy that we see before us, soon to become an Act of Parliament, the Kaikōura (Te Tai o Marokura) Marine Management Bill.

It is fantastic that we are protecting our waters. It is something that we need to do more. We have got only 0.41 percent of all of our waters, less than half of 1 percent, protected in marine reserves. We have got the Māui’s dolphin on the cusp of extinction, Bryde’s whales going that way in the Hauraki Gulf, and the New Zealand sea lion critically endangered. We are seeing our oceans in crisis with climate change, acidification, pollution, waste, and overfishing all threatening the health and viability of our oceans. The Pacific forum meets right now to discuss the moana, this blue highway that connects our Pacific States. It is important that it has put the oceans on the agenda, and it is great to see this Parliament doing something about it.

I want to say very loudly and very clearly that the Green Party supports this bill. We support it. We voted for it at every stage. We have worked constructively in the Local Government and Environment Committee within the constraints to try to improve it. There have been some improvements such as the 25-year review now being reduced to a 10-year review, once we see Supplementary Order Paper 481 agreed. In saying that we support it, and we will be voting for it, I do want to get three concerns on the Hansard of our Parliament. The first is that the Marine Protected Areas Policy and the marine protected areas classification protection standards and implementation guidelines were not applied. This is something that officials and Ministers have put a great deal of work into over the years. It is disappointing that these guidelines have not been applied in this case.

Secondly, we see the Hikurangi Marine Reserve. It is fantastic to be doing a marine reserve covering an oceanic trench—a biodiversity hotspot. Part of the thriving Kaikōura economy is built on the whale-watching industry, which is associated with the trench. It is great to be doing it, but what we see with this marine reserve is only a tiny amount touching the coast—1.97 kilometres. It must be the oddest marine reserve we have got in the country—a 12-sided irregular shape. I do not think there is a name for the type of shape that describes this marine reserve, which only touches the bottom, the benthos, of the Hikurangi trench, not the sides, which are the real ecological hotspot areas. Given that we have heard advice from marine reserves and marine science experts that the boundary effects are magnified, the enforcement obligations are made more difficult, and the difficulties of communicating such a complex 12-sided shape is not ideal—obviously, it would not meet those guidelines—what we would have preferred is a more regular, consistent shape where those boundary effects are reduced, it is easier to communicate, easier to enforce, and easier to protect. So we have some concerns over the process. We have some concerns over the trench reserve, in particular.

Thirdly, when it comes to the whale sanctuary, the Green Party would have preferred to have seen the other marine mammals species protected. It is great to see a whale sanctuary, but we need to be protecting all of our marine mammals. So we would have preferred to have seen a similar marine mammal reserve as under the Marine Mammals Protection Act 1978, which could have protected the whales, could have protected the seals, and could have protected the Hector’s dolphin, which brings me to my final point.

Kiwis have a very clear choice on the oceans this election. We see that this bill will pass, which is fantastic, but what we have not seen action on from National is real action to save the Māui’s dolphin. What we see is National opening up a third of the Māui sanctuary to seabed mining. What we see is National wanting to see seismic testing, which can deafen the dolphins and drive them into lethal trawling nets. In fact, we still see those lethal legal set nets and trawl nets in the Māui sanctuary. We see our New Zealand sea lions on the path to extinction and action not taken to save them. We see a Government that is literally subsidising with taxpayers’ money tens of millions of dollars to seabed miners, despite the Department of Conservation itself saying that it is troubling and likely to degrade the environment—for example, risking the survival of the Māui’s dolphin.

So for people watching the parliamentary broadcast, if people out in New Zealand want to see a party that is going to stand up to protect what we love, which is the oceans, the ability to catch a wave, catch a cray, and go for a fish, and the ability to protect the oceans, which are the lifeblood of our economy, of which our prosperity is built on, the Green Party is the clear choice, because the Green Party will act to protect our oceans.

I rise to take a short call in the Committee stage of the Kaikōura (Te Tai o Marokura) Marine Management Bill. Certainly, it is a piece of legislation that the Labour Party supports. It has had a somewhat unusual development path compared with other marine reserves. I want to acknowledge the concerns that were raised by submitters—not from Kaikōura but submitters who submitted here in Wellington—around, I guess, the bypassing of the regular mechanism for establishing marine reserves. Certainly, there were concerns raised about the size of the reserve, the shape of the reserve, and the process that had been undertaken in order to get the reserve in place, but I think any concerns that we had from the Labour Party perspective were allayed when we travelled to Kaikōura and heard from the Korowai group, the guardians, who had put together the marine reserve package. When we talked through the process that they went through, the collaborative process, and when we heard the submissions from all the different groups that have interests in this particular piece of ocean, we certainly were convinced that it was a very good piece of work, and a piece of work that should be supported notwithstanding the somewhat unusual process—or not unusual; that is probably the wrong word: the different process—that had been gone through in terms of establishing this marine reserve.

Marine reserves are often contentious, and you are dealing with a piece of ocean here that actually has, I think, far more existing rights in terms of use, in terms of people making their living off the sea. Fisheries are always difficult to manage when you are establishing marine reserves—fishing rights and the rights of those who have been fishing there for a long time and who make their livelihood off that activity. But, also, of course, in Kaikōura a lot of tourism activities occur around this area. So to go to Kaikōura and to hear submissions that were unanimously in favour of the marine reserve was a somewhat surreal experience, in my experience, but a very, very positive one. To hear the pāua fishermen, the cray fishermen, the tourism operators, iwi, the local community, and the local Forest and Bird organisation all coming to give very, very positive submissions on this piece of legislation was a very rewarding experience and a very unusual experience for a select committee. Certainly, we enjoyed visiting this very beautiful part of the country and being able to hear firsthand the positivity and the passion for this particular marine reserve, knowing that it simply is not going to be left to the Department of Conservation to manage.

This marine reserve is something that is owned by the local community, by the local iwi, and as they said to us, this is a starting point. We appreciate that this is slightly unusual, in terms of the scope of the marine reserve, but we view this as a starting point and we want to build on it from here. Do not think that this is all there is going to be. Certainly, they acknowledge that the lack of shoreline in the marine reserve was unusual, but there were reasons for that and they were aware of them, and they were going to build on that. I think that is a very positive message that we can take out of that. Although I acknowledge the concerns that were raised more generally about the scope of the marine reserve, I think that when you spoke to the people who had developed it, and had gone down there and heard their reasons and their stories as to how they got to where they were, I do not think any reasonable person could say that it is a negative.

I want to thank the officials for the work that they did on this particular piece of legislation. It is not always easy, as we said. My colleague Ruth Dyson alluded to one very bizarre problem we had, and I notice in the schedules that it has been completely rewritten to ensure that the GPS coordinates for the marine reserve go to three decimal points and not two. We did discover that the GPS coordinates in the legislation put the marine reserve about 20 metres out of place. I notice that the Minister for Primary Industries is in the House. Maybe he can answer a burning question that the select committee members had, which we were not able to get fully answered. Why does the Ministry for Primary Industries have a policy of going to only two decimal places and not three decimal places? It seemed to us that if you have got three decimal places, use them. It is going to be more accurate. We were just told, in what was a very Gliding On moment, that “It’s just MPI policy—two decimal places.” That is very efficient, but I wonder whether the Minister for Primary Industries could tell me why—[Interruption] That is right. Why has the Ministry for Primary Industries got a strict two decimal place policy instead of a three decimal place policy? I hope that the Minister for Primary Industries will bring his ministry into the 21st century and move to a three decimal place policy as quickly as possible. Having a marine reserve that is 20 metres out of place, in the legislation, is not insignificant.

As I said, this marine reserve was started by Chris Carter. It has gone through four Ministers of Conservation. It will, hopefully, get the unanimous support of this House. I am very, very pleased again. It is a slightly unusual process that we are going through in order to ensure that this bill passes before the election, but I am very, very pleased that my last speech in this session of Parliament is on something positive and on something that we have unanimous agreement on, and on something that I am sure will benefit generations to come—not just on the Kaikōura coast but right across New Zealand. The Kaikōura coast truly is a very special part of the country. I was privileged to visit it for the first time when the select committee was hearing submissions.

I want to wish you well, Mr Chair, in your future endeavours. I acknowledge your valedictory speech last night. As we close this session of Parliament, I think this is an extremely good bill to go out on.

I take a call on behalf of New Zealand First on the Kaikōura (Te Tai o Marokura) Marine Management Bill. It is a great pleasure that the last speech I give in this session of Parliament will be on such a great piece of legislation.

Te Korowai o Te Tai o Marokura marine group in Kaikōura and all those involved in Te Korowai are to be highly commended for the exceptional work they did as a community in helping to bring this all together. When we, as the Local Government and Environment Committee, sat and heard the submissions, including the hearings in Kaikōura itself, it was most impressive to see how that community had come together across so many different entities and groups, including Ngāi Tahu and local iwi and hapū, the cray fishermen, the pāua divers, the many involved in the tourist industries there, and the many involved from the community, including Forest and Bird and other environmental groups. So many organisations came together collegially to come up with this, and then took it through the necessary legislative processes with our various ministries to get it to this point.

I would like to acknowledge the excellent work that has been undertaken by the officials from so many of the different departments involved, from the Department of Conservation, the Ministry for Primary Industries, the fisheries people, our parliamentary counsel, and others—whom I have not mentioned but they know who they are—who did a huge amount of work on this bill to bring it all together so well. We certainly enjoyed working on this bill. I think this was one of the most enjoyable pieces of legislation that the Local Government and Environment Committee worked on in the 3 years of this term. We knew that it would have such a great outcome.

I would like to acknowledge the Minister of Conservation, Nick Smith, as well for his work on this and his commitment to marine reserves. Minister Smith, I know how committed you have been to creating so many marine reserves.

We also sat on the Subantarctic Islands marine reserves legislation, which was a magnificent outcome for those outlying islands, as we did on the legislation for the Akaroa marine reserve and others. Again, it is something that all New Zealanders can be proud of, because at the end of the day we are the guardians of our marine estate. Marine reserves depend on humans to ensure that we take care of them, and we are the guardians of these incredible resources that we have out there. In that respect, every one of these marine reserves just adds to the special nature of New Zealand and our geographical position in the world—our isolation as islands in the South Pacific—and the fact is that we do recognise the need to ensure that these marine reserves are put in place to protect the environment for future generations.

It was interesting to learn about some of the aspects of this bill, and to go to the likes of the fur seal colony and see how that beautiful coastline in Kaikōura exists. For the people of New Zealand to be able to see those fur seals so close to the main highway, so close to the railway line—the fur seals are all there, basking in the sun and lying around on the rocks and scratching themselves and having a jolly good old time and jumping off into the water, and doing it all, right in front of people—is just extraordinary.

I say to any New Zealander who has not had the opportunity to do that, if you are able to go down the Kaikōura Coast, it certainly is well worth doing, as is the visit to the small area that is the creche for the pups, or the seal calves, as they are known. It was amazing to see them in the pools of water there. The select committee went up to the pools of water and watched 50 or 60 of these young seals frolicking in the water. They stay there during the day. Apparently, they go back to see mum and dad at night time. They get a bit of a feed—a bit of kai—from mum and dad, and then the next day they go back up to the pools and have another play around. It was marvellous to see that and to see how they were in the natural environment. The fact that all this area will be protected as a result of this bill is excellent.

In terms of the whale sanctuary and the canyon off the Kaikōura Coast, it is a very significant canyon, a very deep canyon, and one that is quite unique as it has significant food resources for the whales. One of the reasons why they have had such a longstanding habitat there is that it is such a special place for the whales to exist. As a result, it is wonderful that Ngāi Tahu, with their whale-watching tourism venture, were able to put in place the necessary infrastructure to allow people to go out and take part in the whale-watching there and see these majestic animals in their natural habitat. Again, that is wonderful. The fact that we have this marine sanctuary will ensure that that is preserved and protected and that New Zealanders and international tourists can take benefit from it. That is marvellous.

It was interesting when we heard about some of the more technical areas of this bill—when we looked at the maps and at how the area was all clearly defined with the borders and boundaries of the different sanctuaries involved here—that we were down to debating decimal places. The whole debate about whether it should be to two or three decimal places was interesting. We were told initially that “The system works to only two decimal places. That is how it is.”, but, as we all know, in this modern generation, computers can go out to as many decimal places as you like. We said that for the benefit of the environment, we would have to go to whichever decimal place is required to ensure that the proper protections are put in place for these marine sanctuaries, and it was very pleasing to see that the officials from Ministry for Primary Industries and the Department of Conservation recognised the fact that going to three decimal places would ensure greater certainty over that. That was a great thing. We hope that it applies elsewhere in New Zealand in future as well. That would be a good thing.

In closing, can I just say that I have enjoyed my 3 years on the Local Government and Environment Committee. It has been a very interesting committee. We have had a huge workload. It is a very busy committee. If you can imagine both the local government side of things plus all the environment side of things, you know, it should almost be two committees because the amount of work covers such a huge, huge area.

We have literally worked very hard, and I commend all the members, not only the present members but members who have been on it during these 3 years of this term. Everyone has contributed well. We have had some very, very good outcomes. We have looked at submissions from the public from all over New Zealand on so many different subjects. As a result, wherever possible, we have ensured that best outcomes have come as a result of that. We do not always agree with the outcomes, and New Zealand First has raised concerns in some areas, but, at the end of the day, democracy is upheld, and we are a better place for the fact that we have a system of select committees that gives thorough scrutiny to all these areas.

I commend the Kaikōura (Te Tai o Marokura) Marine Management Bill to the House. New Zealand First is very proud to have been part of this process.

Tēnā koe, Mr Chair. This bill, the Kaikōura (Te Tai o Marokura) Marine Management Bill, addresses the significant biodiversity and the uniqueness of the Kaikōura coast. It has been very interesting to listen to the speeches on it so far—in particular, when the Minister of Conservation and also Andrew Williams acknowledged the Kaikōura Canyon. In my research of the Kaikōura Canyon it says that the canyon contains a hundred times the biomass of any other equivalent sort of environment. That contributes to the orange roughy and hoki industry down there. It is really important that this area is protected. This marine reserve and the whole bill go some way to doing that.

The bill talks about kaitiakitanga. I would just like to explain the notion of kaitiakitanga. We use the word quite often and assume that people understand what it means. The base word of kaitiakitanga is the word “tiaki”, which means to care for something. The prefix “kai” is the equivalent of having “er” on the end of an English word. So “kaitiaki” means a carer or a guardian and kaitiakitanga means the guardianship. This bill talks about kaitiakitanga and local leadership.

It is really important that we acknowledge the number of local people who have been involved in this. We have heard of the diverse interests, such as the crayfishermen, the fishermen, and local iwi. It is really important that we recognise everybody who has been involved in this, in particular the group known as Te Korowai o Te Tai o Marokura. Korowai is another Māori word, which means a cloak. They are laying their cloak of guardianship across this area.

I agree with our colleague Gareth Hughes about the shape of the marine area. Looking at schedule 1, the shape looks similar to a capital F lying on its side, and it is a 12-sided shape. Not having been part of the deliberations at that stage on the select committee, it sort of made sense to me looking at things now that point (f) in schedule 1 could well have been connected directly to point (e), which would have taken out eight sides of that irregular shape, or, at the very least, point (m), connected to point (j) and then (j) to (e), which would have reduced the weird shape of the marine area. As Gareth Hughes has pointed out, having such a long boundary around this marine reserve sort of dilutes the effect of having such a large reserve. I do not understand why it is in this shape; I was not part of the deliberations. I am sure there was a very good reason why it is in the shape that it is.

Regarding the whale sanctuary, I think we need to go back a bit and examine New Zealand’s history around whaling, which would bring us forward into why we need a whale sanctuary at this time. Apparently, Māori used to hunt whales, although very irregularly. I do not know how they managed to do it in the small waka that they would have paddled around in, and I do not know how they would have harpooned them, but certainly Māori partook of the bounty when a stranded whale washed up on the shore. In fact, because they subsisted on such a paltry diet of crayfish, oysters, kinas, wood pigeons, berries, and things, when a whale washed up on the beach they probably would have thought all their Matarikis had arrived at once.

There is a very famous story up north in Ahipara, that when one tribe was living up on the top of a quite impregnable pā by the name of Whangatauatia, another tribe was down below on the beach wondering how it could get these other guys to come out when they hit upon the idea of killing and skinning a number of dogs, and sewing the skins together and wrapping them around some sort of frame in the shape of a whale to make it look like a whale was beached part-way up Ninety Mile Beach. The people in the pā came racing out and subsequently were dispatched, as we did in the day. It just goes to show that Māori had interests in whale-meat; 10 tonnes of protein turning up on your doorstep was considered a bounty.

💬 Hon Trevor Mallard: What does it taste like?

Mr Mallard, I would have no idea what it tastes like.

The other two points I would like to make are around the mātaitai. We also talk about mātaitai and taiāpure and people do not really know what they are, so I would just like to spell it out. A taiāpure is a local management tool established in an area that has customarily been of special significance to an iwi or hapū as a source of food, or for spiritual or cultural reasons. This is spelt out under section 174 of the Fisheries Act. Taiāpure can be established over any area of estuarine or coastal waters to make better provision for rangatiratanga and for the rights secured under article 2 of the Treaty. Taiāpure provisions are contained within sections 174 to 185 of the Fisheries Act. All fishing including commercial fishing can continue in a taiāpure, and this tool offers a way for tangata whenua to become involved in the management of both commercial and non-commercial fishing in their area.

A mātaitai is slightly different. Mātaitai reserves are areas where the tangata whenua manage all non-commercial fishing by making by-laws. The by-laws must apply equally to all individuals. Mātaitai reserves may be applied for over traditional fishing grounds only, and must be areas of special significance to the tangata whenua. Generally, there is no commercial fishing within mātaitai reserves.

To go back, slightly, to whaling and the reason we need to have the whaling sanctuary, in the 1800s it was estimated that there were some 70,000 southern right whales in the southern hemisphere; by the 1920s there were just 500 estimated to be left. It is estimated that over 2 million whales had been slaughtered in the southern hemisphere. This demonstrates the reason we need to have these whaling sanctuaries, so we can try to do our small part in making sure the whale population regenerates. We know now that instead of trying to make money out of commercial whaling, it is better to protect them and allow economies like those in Kaikōura to make money through people going whale-watching. When we explore what happened to whales, parts of the whales were used for such essential items as making corsets and headwear. I believe flexible riding whips were another reason whalebone was used. The oil was used to lubricate machinery and things like that. It is just an utter waste and an utter travesty, and that is why this marine reserve is such an essential thing. Kia ora.

Tēnā koe, Mr Chair. I am pleased to take a call on the Kaikōura (Te Tai o Marokura) Marine Management Bill. It is unusual to have such a short Committee stage and no debate on the third reading. The Green Party has agreed to this so that the bill can be passed by this Parliament and the marine protected areas that it establishes can go into law before the House rises later today for the election campaign.

As the Minister of Conservation and others have noted, the Kaikōura coast is unique because that very deep Kaikōura Canyon lies so close to shore. It is the canyon, with its rich marine life, that attracts the whales, particularly the sperm whales, and they are, of course, the basis of the $30 million marine tourism industry, which is the basis of the whole economy for the township of Kaikōura. This bill and the fact that it establishes the Hikurangi Marine Reserve, a whale sanctuary, and a sanctuary for the fur seals, should help protect the base of that marine tourism industry. As well, the bill establishes two taiāpure areas and three mātaitai reserves, and they will certainly help to safeguard customary fishing and allow for the restoration of Ngāti Kuri’s traditional rights in those areas. As well, the bill makes some changes to the recreational fishing regulations, which should also benefit marine life in the area by reducing bag limits both for some species of shellfish and for fin fish.

The protected areas that the bill establishes are very welcome but they are only the proverbial drop in the marine protection bucket, because the area of territorial sea and the economic exclusion zone that we have protected in New Zealand is still 0.41 percent. The Hikurangi Marine Reserve, as Kelvin Davis noted, is indeed a very odd-shaped drop in the bucket with the “F” on this map lying on its side. That is because, as we understand it, the boundaries were drawn to have the least impact on crayfishers and others and they avoided two quite important sea mounts. It has been really disappointing that it has got these odd-shaped 12-sided boundaries because, as the Department of Conservation officials recognised, that would make it much more difficult to enforce the prohibition on fishing within the marine reserve. As submitters like the Marine Sciences Society and Forest and Bird noted, because you have got these odd 12-sided boundaries, it means that the edge effects from fishing outside the reserve will have an impact much further in the reserve than would otherwise occur.

The other thing that is disappointing is the lost opportunity. When we have got the State highway along the coast and it is very easy for people to access the coast, we have got less than 2 kilometres of the really dramatic Kaikōura coastline protected as part of the marine reserve. Again, we understand that that was to protect the crayfishers, but visitors want to get up close and personal with nature in an unfished state, and, given the importance of marine tourism to Kaikōura, it would have been a great opportunity to provide more chance for snorkelling and diving in areas where fishing does not occur.

We welcome the Minister’s Supplementary Order Paper 481, which reduces the review period from 25 years to 10 years. That is a very good initiative because we hope that the Kaikōura community will recognise the major benefits of the marine reserve and will want to see more of the shoreline protected when it goes through that review. But the marine protected areas in this bill do not make up for the fact that National is encouraging high-impact exploitation and potential devastation of parts of our marine environment through its encouragement and promotion of deep-sea oil drilling and seabed mining. We have had 11 oil company executives wined and dined by the Government, soliciting their oil rigs and their oil drills. They will put our coast at risk of a catastrophe like the Deepwater Horizon one. The Green Party wants clean beaches that are safe from oil spills and no deep-sea oil drilling, but National with its encouragement of deep-sea oil drilling risks our beaches being smothered with a thick and deadly blanket of oil if we have a catastrophe like Deepwater Horizon.

Although we are establishing in this bill a fur seal sanctuary on the one hand, on the other hand the Government has failed to outlaw the deadly fishing methods like set-netting on the west coast of the North Island to protect the threatened Māui’s dolphin. As others have noted, we have more MPs now than we have Māui’s dolphins. The Green Party announced yesterday its plan to protect Māui’s dolphin and to make that sanctuary a real safe haven by outlawing set-netting and trawl-netting and providing assistance to fishers to move to dolphin-safe methods. So although this Minister is certainly an enthusiast for marine reserves, of course it was a previous Minister who rejected the Akaroa marine reserve. Even with this marine reserve of over 1,000 hectares, it is still very small compared with the area that National has opened up to oil exploration.

I have been on the Local Government and Environment Committee since 2011. On first coming to that committee we had marine reserves legislation that had been languishing in front of the select committee and this Parliament for more than a decade. We have had repeated promises by National that we would have new marine reserve legislation introduced to this Parliament. I expect the Minister will do it again at the Environmental Defence Society conference next week and tantalise the environmental sector with the prospect of better legislation for marine protection. We need that legislation to avoid ad hoc bills like this one.

The other comment I would like to make is that the bill provides for the establishment of an advisory committee, the Kaikōura Coastal Marine Guardians, to advise the Minister of Conservation and the Minister for Primary Industries. We hope that given the international significance of the Kaikōura Canyon and the Hikurangi Marine Reserve in protecting a small portion of the area, the Ministers will recognise that it is not just the Kaikōura community that should be represented on the advisory committee but the national and international interests in marine protection.

We have got the University of Canterbury, which has had a longstanding teaching and research laboratory in Kaikōura. It would be very useful to ensure that there is strong science representation on the Kaikōura Coastal Marine Guardians because this would help provide good, objective baseline research to help inform the review of the marine protected areas in 10 years’ time, and it would help, we think, with the work that will be done by Ngāti Kuri and others in restoring the taiāpure and the mātaitai areas and the fisheries in those. Good science is the basis of good management.

As Gareth Hughes noted, we would have liked to see the whale sanctuary established under the Marine Mammals Protection Act so that it could have protected other species like the dusky dolphins. But we do acknowledge the work of the Minister in getting this bill through and the work of officials, both here in Wellington and in Kaikōura, when the select committee travelled there. We would also really like to acknowledge the huge amount of effort that the members of Te Korowai put into this—the numerous meetings and discussions, and the better understanding of the different points of view around the table. That collaborative process is an improvement in terms of the opposition we have seen in the past to the establishment of marine reserves. But, as we have said before, it does need to be done in the context of the marine protected areas policy and the guidelines in that.

We applaud the work that everyone has done in getting the bill to this stage, and we look forward to it being passed. Thank you.

Tēnā koe, Mr Chair. It is a pleasure to stand in support of this bill, the Kaikōura (Te Tai o Marokura) Marine Management Bill. I want to make just a brief contribution on behalf of my whanaungas in Ngāti Kuri of Kaikōura. I would just like to put this on the record for the Committee; it is a mihi from my whanaungas.

Tēnā koutou katoa. E ngā kārangatanga maha tēnei mātou e hari ana ki te mihi atu ki a koutou i runga tonu nei i ngā āhuatanga o te tika me te pono o tēnei kaupapa manaaki taonga ā-whenua, ā-wai māori, ā-wai tai. He kaupapa nui, whakaharahara te mahi ngātahi tēnei iwi me ngā iwi katoa e nohonoho nei ki tō mātou takiwā. Hoi anō, i runga i te peha o tōku tūpuna nōki te kori, kia kori mai hoki koe ka whakatau i te kaupapa. Ko Tapuwae-o-Uenuku kei runga hei tītīreia mō te iwi. Ko Waiau Toa kei raro, i hono ai ki tōna hoa ki te hauraro ko Waiau Uha. Ko Te Tai o Marokura te moana i ū mai ai a Tūte urutira, kia tau mai ki tō Hineroko whenua i raro i Te Whata Kai a Rokohouia. Ko tōna utuanga he tāngata, arā, ko ngā Tātare o Tānemoehau. Ā, he tātai mai ki tēnei ao. Mā tātou anōngā awa me ngā awaanga, me ngā hiwi, me ngā toropuke, me ngā maunga, me ngā awa nunui kei runga i a Kaikōura whenua e tiaki, e atawhai. Ko Tahanga te marae. Ko Marukaitātea te whare tipuna. Ko Ngāti Kuri te hapu, Ko Ngāi Tahu te iwi.

[It is with delight that I extend this acknowledgment to you all, the many callings, with regard to the appropriateness and validity of this proposal, of caring treasured inland fresh and coastal waterways. It is indeed a significant and marvellous scheme to work in unison with this tribe and all the tribes settled here in our tribal territory. Therefore, we acknowledge the saying that was uttered by my ancestor: “The move is mine, so it is you who must move in my direction to settle it.” Tapuae-o-Uenuku is indeed above, as a chiefly comb for the people. Waiau Toa is below joining up with his partner Waiau Uha further down. Te Tai o Marokura is the ocean that Tūteurutira crossed over and came ashore at the land of Hineroko, beneath the lofty food-gathering cliffs of Rokohouia. His cargo was people, the brave warriors of Tānemoehau, which serves as a lineage to this world. It is for us now to protect and care for the rivers, valleys, hillocks, ridges, mountains and broad, braided rivers upon the lands of Kaikōura. Takahanga is the marae, Maru Kaitātea is the ancestral house, Ngāti Kurī is the kinship group and Ngāi Tahu is the tribe.]

The question was put that the amendment set out on Supplementary Order Paper 481 in the name of the Hon Dr Nick Smith to clause 5C(1) be agreed to.

Amendment agreed to.

Parts 1 and 2, clauses 1 and 2, and schedules 1AA to 3 and 5 to 7 as amended agreed to.

Bill reported with amendment.

Report adopted.