Thread: Stop the Lockout

Originally Posted by Woody

Apparrently the BOP regional council id about to lock recreational fishers out of all the reefs around Motiti Is. Govt has allocated this piwer away from MaF fisheries msnagement onto Regional Councils eith no public consultation and they are required to create "new marine reserves" around NZ.
Looks to me like recreational food gatherers are getting hit again and again. A website had been set up and you can get more info there. Below is a link to their petition.
http://chng.it/FF7Mpm9ZxT

Unfortunately its not that simple. Whats happening is entirely independent of government, it is driven by a court action from a small group of Motiti elders (not the primary hapu, they are gutted with the changes) with forest and bird poking their sticky beaks in.

What happened is they have legally challenged the ability of the RMA to manage and sustain marine biodiversity first through the environmental court then upheld in the high court. They have essentially set legal precedent that councils can create no take zones in order to protect biodiversity. This can now happen to any area around the country that is shown to be "degraded".

Council can not dictate anything fishery related as that falls under MPI's jurisdiction so it is all or nothing. So they cant just limit catch or methods etc. Its all or nothing.

Literally the only way to stop this will be to change the RMA itself. National has said they will look at this.

Pretty gutting for spearos as it represents all of our shallow reefs and about 60% of our inshore spots. Our access will literally half.