The Maori Fisheries Trust, Te Ohu Kaimoana, says the Government was “cynical” in its handling of the Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary plan.
In a joint statement chairman Matiu Rei and chief executive Peter Douglas said the trust, the agent of the Treaty partners, was only informed 10 hours ahead of the Prime Minister’s announcement last week.
They said the 1992 deed of fisheries settlement guaranteed that the Crown would consult iwi and their agents on fisheries and ecosystem management.
“The Government has not lived up to its guarantees in respect of the Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary.”
Key announced the sanctuary in an address to the United Nations in New York, taking the New Zealand seafood industry by surprise.
Extending 200 nautical miles (370 kilometres) around the Kermadecs, it will be a total no-take zone.
Its creation, hailed by conservationists, has been pushed by a rich US-based non-profit foundation, Pew Charitable Trusts.
There has been little fishing in New Zealand’s exclusive economic zone around the Kermadecs, 800-1000km north of the North Island, since the early 1980s.
But Rei and Douglas said that Maori customary rights endured.
“The extent of use is not relevant and does not remove the Government’s obligation to consult with its Treaty partners where the decision affects the rights of Maori,” they said.
New Zealand tuna industry leader Charles Hufflett – who, like Te Ohu Kaimoana, got only 10 hours’ notice of the announcement – has strongly criticised the sanctuary decision.
The chorus of complaint also includes industry group Fisheries Inshore New Zealand, whose chairman, Laws Lawson, said the industry was shocked and extremely concerned when the announcement was made without prior consultation.
Speaking from Chile, where he is heading the New Zealand delegation to an oceans conference attended by 100 nations, Environment Minister Nick Smith said it was inevitable that Key’s announcement on the United Nations stage involved “a high level of confidentiality”.
“The Government is committed to consulting with the key groups on the legislation for the Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary before it is introduced to Parliament.”
He said the two iwi with Kermadec associations strongly backed the sanctuary, and in “many conversations” about it, Hufflett had made clear his opposition.
2015 Fairfax New Zealand Limited