A five-year wait for Te Runanga o Waihao came to an end yesterday, after the Government approved the creation of a new mataitai reserve that would allow the runanga to exercise more control over traditional Maori fishing grounds in Waimate.
The Ministry of Primary Industries yesterday approved five new mataitai reserves in New Zealand, including the Waihao Mataitai reserve, which takes in Wainono Lagoon, Waituna Stream and Hook River, east of State Highway 1, northeast of Waimate township.
Waihao native fisheries representative Pauline Reid said the runanga had originally launched an application to turn the area into a mataitai reserve five years ago.
"It was started by Kelly Davis and I continued it after his death, so it's been quite some time in the making.
"It means we can take care of our waterways and have control over what is taken out of them. The Waituna, like everywhere else, gets depleted very quickly by commercial fishermen and it's simply to make sure we have stocks for the future."
Ministry fisheries management director James Stevenson-Wallace said the mataitai reserves would not restrict recreational fishers.
"In establishing these mataitai reserves, we have carefully considered the effect they will have on commercial fishers.
"These reserves will enable local Maori to exercise their customary rights through access to, and use of, fisheries resources from the reserve areas."
