The Hauraki Gulf/Tīkapa Moana Marine Protection Bill, which passed its third reading in Parliament today, is a vital step in the fight to bring Auckland’s treasured Tīkapa Moana back from the brink of ecological collapse.
But in a disappointing move, the Government has included a controversial amendment that gives commercial ring-net fishing operators exclusive access to two of the so-called ‘high protection areas’. These zones had been explicitly designed to exclude commercial and recreational fishing and provide a safe haven for marine life.
WWF-New Zealand’s CEO, Dr Kayla Kingdon-Bebb, says that after a decade of work she’s delighted the Bill has finally become law – but the special pass for a select group of commercial fishers casts a shadow over what should have been a landmark step towards restoring the health and mauri of Tīkapa Moana.
“Today is a critical step forward for the Hauraki Gulf and a hard-won victory for everyone who has worked tirelessly to protect it – from recreational fishers and commercial operators to conservationists and tangata whenua.
“But this should have been a resounding victory, not a hollow one. With absolutely no justification, the Government has seen fit to disregard years of community consensus-building and compromise to pander to industry lobbyists and political donors.
“Their unconscionable eleventh-hour decision flies in the face of all the evidence and prioritises short-term profits for a select few over the long-term health of a taonga that belongs to all of us,” she says.
Dr Kingdon-Bebb says the official advice from Fisheries New Zealand showing commercial ring-net fishing revenue in all 12 proposed high protection areas was worth only $14,000 last year underscores the absurdity of this decision.
“It just defies logic that Ministers have persisted with this exemption when the commercial catch is worth a pittance and benefits only a handful of operators - especially because, in the absence of these late-stage changes, the Government wouldn’t have required the support of New Zealand First to pass the Bill into law. It’s clear that this decision has always been about setting a dangerous precedent and making it easier for industry lobbyists to weaken future marine protection efforts,” she says.
WWF-New Zealand also approached Ministers with a compromise solution of a one-year transition period – giving the ring-net fishers time to adjust while ensuring long-term protections remained intact. This was rejected by the Government.
Since the controversial exemption for commercial ring-net fishers was first revealed in October last year, it has sparked widespread public outcry, with over 32,000 people signing WWF’s open letter urging the Prime Minister to reverse the decision, and almost 10,000 Kiwis directly emailing Ministers to voice concern.
“While this eleventh-hour exemption is incredibly frustrating, the silver lining has been seeing the amazing response from Kiwis who care about protecting our marine environment for future generations,” says Dr Kingdon-Bebb.
“We’re also really pleased to see commitments from other political parties that they will reverse this unconscionable and unjustified exemption as soon as there is a change of Government.”
The new protected areas were meant to be just one part of a broader plan – alongside long-promised restrictions on bottom-trawling across the Gulf. But WWF says the Oceans Minister’s recent decision to squash these plans is further evidence that the coalition Government is prioritising the interests of industry lobbyists over the long-term recovery of Tīkapa Moana and the many Aucklanders who rely on it.
“Protected areas are one important part of the solution - we also urgently need to phase out destructive bottom trawling in Tīkapa Moana to enable its recovery. But unfortunately, the Minister has yet again sided with industry lobbyists,” says Dr Kingdon-Bebb.
“Bottom-trawling devastates everything in its path, causes significant and sometimes irreversible habitat loss - and it also worsens climate change by releasing tonnes of carbon dioxide from the seafloor. Our efforts to restore the health of the Gulf will continue to be hamstrung while we allow this kind of wholesale destruction to continue.
“Time is running out and we need to start acting in the best interests of all New Zealanders, the many native species and treasured fish stocks that depend on the Gulf, and the generations that will inherit this precious resource.
“But sadly, under the Coalition Government’s watch we are instead raiding protected areas and letting destructive bottom-trawling run rampant - while less than one 1% of our ocean is protected and species are declining at alarming rates. Ministers should be ashamed.”