We\u2019ve taken a once-in-a-generation step to turn around the health of the gulf<\/a> by nearly tripling marine protection and creating 19 new protection areas.\u201d<\/p>\nPotaka said the public could expect to see t\u0101mure (snapper) and k\u014dura (rock lobster) stocks rebuild in the coming decades, as well as richer kelp forests and seabird colonies.<\/p>\n
On the contentious carve-out, Potaka said limited, local ring-net fishing for common species would only be allowed in 3% of the total 800km of HPAs and be up for review after three years.<\/p>\n
\u201cOverall, the legislation ensures we balance the needs of communities, the environment and the economy,\u201d Potaka said.<\/p>\n
Maungakiekie-based Labour MP Priyanca Radhakrishnan said Labour would reverse the carve-out, if re-elected.<\/p>\n
\u201cDespite the environment select committee unanimously recommending to this house that the bill be passed with no substantive change, at the 11th hour, because of some active lobbying of the Minister of Oceans and Fisheries, we saw this Government cave to that pressure and they have chosen to water down the protections in the original bill.<\/p>\n
\u201cLabour, in Government, will reverse the change that allows ring-net fishing in those HPAs,\u201d Radhakrishnan said.<\/p>\n
Auckland Central MP Chl\u00f6e Swarbrick said the carve-out let otherwise-good legislation down and questioned the Government\u2019s rationale for making it in the first place.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese were carve-outs for ring-net fishers, which ministers justified as supposedly allowing for cheaper or more affordable fish wh\u0101nau in South Auckland.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe interrogated this abject ridiculousness at the committee of the whole stage and the minister could not provide us with any evidence whatsoever for those fundamentally baseless assertions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Act MP Simon Court said MPs had considered a wide range of perspectives, including from conservation and fishing groups, and had found a position that \u201cstarted the process of healing the gulf\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt makes sense that local commercial vessels can continue to fish in a sustainable way under the fisheries regulations and supply the people with good quality and affordable food.\u201d<\/p>\n
New Zealand First MP Jenny Marcroft said her party supported the bill\u2019s efforts to restore the health of the Hauraki Gulf before raising her concerns with wastewater overflows.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I just go back a few months to May 11, 64 beaches were either black or red flagged for waste contamination.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, if we want to protect the gulf, and all in this house want to do that, we need to call out what Water Care is doing because they are spilling into our beautiful harbour. Absolutely, totally unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hauraki-Waikato MP Hana-R\u0101whiti Maipi Clarke said Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori was disappointed its proposed amendments giving mana whenua mandatory consultation in the permit process had not been adopted.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur amendments were designed to ensure mana whenua have input into these applications for permits… and the need to ensure that new breaches of Te Tiriti o Waitangi do not occur against iwi of Hauraki and T\u012bkapa Moana.\u201d<\/p>\n
The legislation will come into force before the end of the year, with a new team of Department of Conservation marine rangers on the water now to educate the public and monitor compliance.<\/p>\n
Further investment, funded through the International Visitor Levy, to protect the Hauraki Gulf will be announced soon.<\/p>\n
\u2013 RNZ<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"These HPAs have proven controversial after the coalition included a late-stage amendment allowing commercial ring-net fishing operators exclusive…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63343,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[74,16188,273,9359,3087,30699,51628,4507,8307,111,139,69,24637,51627,15381,147,16189],"class_list":["post-63342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-after","tag-anneke","tag-environment","tag-exemption","tag-fishing","tag-gulf","tag-hauraki","tag-late","tag-law","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-parliament","tag-passes","tag-protection","tag-science","tag-smith"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63342\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}