David and Goliath battle to save seas
The might of government and the fishing industry line up against a tiny Ma¯ori group battling to protect their waters.
A small hapu¯ is facing down the Government and fishing industry giants to set up a marine reserve at the site of the Rena disaster.
The Motiti Rohe Moana Trust won ‘‘groundbreaking’’ rulings in the Environment and High Courts to give local councils powers to regulate fishing to protect native species. But now the Government is threatening to take the fight all the way to the Supreme Court.
Motiti islanders have battled to protect their marine life since the Rena container ship foundered on the nearby Astrolabe reef in 2011, spilling 350 tonnes of oil and killing countless fish and up to 20,000 seabirds.
Yesterday, Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash was forced to defend a move that will see the hapu tied up in litigation for years when he and the Trust’s Te Atarangi Sayers went head-to-head at Forest and Bird’s annual conference in Wellington.
‘‘The marine environment is in crisis,’’ Sayers said. ‘‘I feel like if we don’t act now, with the court decisions we have already had, we are going to out ourselves in a more precarious state.’’
Nash said the court decision allowing councils to use the Resource Management Act to protect the marine environment – previously it has only been applied to land – marked a ‘‘fundamental change’’ in how fisheries were managed, and the legislation needed to be clarified. ‘‘I would have no problems seeing this go all the way to the Supreme Court.’’
Nash said he, Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage and Environment Minister David Parker would all give advice to Solicitor-General Una Jagose, who will make the final decision. Nash said he would accept her decision, whichever way it goes.
Sage refused to comment. In Opposition, she criticised the National Government for challenging the original court decision.
The hapu¯ decided to act after a 2011 exclusion zone around the wreck set up to allow for salvage led to the marine life flourishing.
In 2016, the Motiti Rohe Moana Trust asked MPI to extend that protection with a two-year closure of the reef to all fishing. MPI refused and when the vessels arrived the sanctuary was decimated.
Undeterred, Motiti Rohe Moana Trust asked the Bay of Plenty Regional Council to intervene, arguing it had powers under the Resource Management Act to protect the reef with a rahui.
The council didn’t agree and so the Trust – alongside Forest and Bird – took its case to the Environment Court.
Following a High Court judicial ruling last year, the Environment Court ordered the Bay of Plenty Council to begin the process of protecting the reef, and two other areas, from the impact of fishing.
Forest and Bird chief executive Kevin Hague said the legal challenges were disappointing. ‘‘This is the first time the RMA has been used to protect important marine ecosystems.’’