Attn: Rt Hon Christopher Luxon, Prime Minister, and Hon Tama Potaka, Minister of Conservation
Dear Prime Minister and Minister,
Don’t allow commercial fishing in High Protection Areas in Tīkapa Moana
The Hauraki Gulf / Tīkapa Moana is on the brink of ecological collapse.
Overfishing, habitat loss, pollution, and the effects of poorly planned urban development have led to a 57% decline in key fish stocks, a 67% decline in seabirds, and a 97% decline in whales and dolphins in the Gulf. Scallop and crayfish populations are functionally extinct in some areas.
The Tīkapa Moana / Hauraki Gulf Marine Protection Bill is an incredibly important step forward. The Government is to be commended for the mahi which will establish two marine reserves, five seafloor protection areas, and 12 high protection areas in the Hauraki Gulf, acknowledging customary rights within seafloor protection areas and high protection areas.
The bill is the result of years of collaborative work between tangata whenua, environmental groups, commercial and recreational fishers and others involved in the Sea Change process that began in 2013.
In June, the Environment Select Committee unanimously agreed to advance the Bill, with no substantive changes to the high protection areas. Government members of the committee signed off on high protection areas that don’t include commercial fishing. Those who wanted commercial fishing in the protected areas made their case then, and your own Government colleagues rejected it.
I urge you to intervene and instruct ministers and officials to stop work on the proposed amendment to the bill that would allow commercial fishing in high protection areas. This amendment needlessly undermines the rest of the good work on the bill. The public need the Government to stick to its word and stand by the work of its own MPs in select committee. With your leadership, Tīkapa Moana can be protected with integrity.
Image credit: Frances Dickinson www.benthics.com