Meeting in Karitane for public to discuss proposed mātaitai

A proposal to make a popular fishing area off the Otago Coast into an iwi-managed reserve is on the table as a way to protect the area and still allow fishing to take place.

Last month, Kāti Huirapa Rūnaka ki Puketeraki applied to Fisheries New Zealand to create a 47.5sqkm mātaitai reserve extending from Cornish Head to Purehurehu Point.

On August 21, there will be a public meeting at the Puketeraki Marae in Karitane to discuss the application with the community.

East Otago Taiapure management committee chairman Brendan Flack said it would be "business as usual for pretty much everything".

"The East Otago Taiapure was established in the 1990s, and at that time the boundaries were a little bit of a compromise ... for ease of management."

Now that mapping of the area had been completed, they found certain reefs they were looking to protect were bisected by the current boundaries.

"It's not really providing good protection, so it is just a matter of tidying up those boundaries."

He said the mātaitai would give the opportunity to extend the area where paua was reseeded, and to be more active in removing invasive seaweed without banning recreational fishing in the same way a marine reserve would do.

"This is a way of locally protecting an area and still allowing fishing to take place."

The mātaitai would not change recreational fishing rules. However, there might be proposed changes later on, any of which would be consulted on with the public and relevant stakeholders, and would need to be approved by the Minister for Oceans and Fisheries.

In a mātaitai, commercial fishing is generally banned, but Kāti Huirapa Rūnaka ki Puketeraki has proposed exemptions allowing certain commercial activities to take place.

This includes allowing the anchoring of commercial vessels, the processing of commercially caught fish, the taking and holding of rock lobster in holding pots, the taking of paddle crab and the taking of Undaria pinnatifida (invasive seaweed).

The proposal also allows the commercial taking of finfish, except for blue cod, butterfish and moki.

The current boundaries of the East Otago Taiapure were too small to effectively manage non-sedentary species of sea life, and the proposed boundaries of the mātaitai would make this easier, the proposal said.

Submissions from the public about the proposal were open until September 4 on the New Zealand Fisheries website.

Fish Mainland director and Tautuku Fishing Club president Brett Bensemann was concerned about the proposal.

He said everyone should be working together for the future of fishing, instead of "constant surprises by certain groups".

"Certain groups can be anyone ... commercial, Fisheries New Zealand, iwi — we should all be communicating.

"Perhaps a Otago Coast Guardians Group of representatives from all sectors should be put in place."