Great Barrier Island marae calls on Government for two-year fishing ban to stop the depletion of crayfish

A marae on Great Barrier Island is the latest to ask the Government to enforce an official rāhui to stop the gathering of crayfish and certain shellfish in the area.

Situated on the northern side of the island, the Motairehe Marae Trust has applied for a two-year ban under the Fisheries Act.

If successful, it will include the Great Barrier, Little Barrier and Mokohinau islands, the first-ever island-wide ban.

Across the calm waters of Te Moananui ā Toi or the Hauraki Gulf, is Aotea or Great Barrier with its picturesque shores. Yet mana whenua say they are under attack from both commercial and recreational fishers.

"We now have displaced fishing efforts from people coming from the mainland Coromandel Auckland and they are all coming over here taking three key ingredients," Motairehe Marae spokesperson and member of the Ngāti Rehua Ngātiwai ki Aotea Trust Jeff Cleave said.

Ingredients in decline are scallops, pāua and crayfish, which are currently considered functionally extinct in the area. 

That means the crayfish can no longer play an important role as predators in the ecology of rocky reefs.

And as kaitiaki or guardians, the hapū is asking the Government to enforce a temporary closure around Aotea Great Barrier and its wider islands under section 186A of the Fisheries Act. 

"People love them because they are a target, but they are not going to survive," Cleave said. "We are kaitiaki (guardians) need to ensure that we do everything we can so we can stand at the end of the day and say we did the best for our future."

And local residents are in support of the hapū.

"We've seen the depletion of our stocks around our shores," chairperson of the Aotea Great Barrier Local Board Izzy Fordham said.

"And at the moment we are feeling very vulnerable back to back.

"It has to be mana whenua led so the support is there behind them they've got it so we are looking forward to the next steps and working together with it."

The wider problem is the depletion of similar shellfish just across the water. The same act with similar prohibitions on shellfish has been granted for Ngāti Paoa of Waiheke Island and Ngāti Hei of the Coromandel.

Yet Ngāti Manuhiri of the Hauraki Gulf implemented their own Māori customary ban - a rāhui - to help replenish the sea, while they too work through the details with the Oceans and Fisheries Minister David Parker.

Māori believe that the sea and its bounty is a taonga tuku iho, a treasure that was passed down from previous generations and for that reason that it must be looked after for future generations.

"We can't continue to feed the world from our small Pātaka manaaki or our cupboards that we feed our manuhiri our guests, our whānau who come home and expect for that resource to survive. There is nothing sustainable about commercial extraction," Cleave said.

In a statement, Fisheries New Zealand said "once the rahui application has been finalised it will go through the usual processes including public consultation".

And later, "Fisheries New Zealand will prepare advice to the Minister for Oceans and Fisheries for his consideration".

So the marae has to wait, while it believes there's no time to waste.

"We saw what happened here when the rahui went on and the influx of commercial boats that happened just on the outside of the Tryphena harbour," Fordham said. "So we are feeling very, very, very vulnerable so this will give us some sort of protection."

"We find on this island that the quota system allowing people to go out and get six koura a day, 20 tipa (scallops), and 10 paua every single day for every single person is the way to the decline that we find ourselves in," Cleave said.

Acting Fisheries New Zealand's director of fisheries management Marianne Lukkien said they are working with local iwi on their application for a temporary closure.

"We recognise local initiatives such as rāhui and Fisheries New Zealand assists with applications for temporary closures in these areas. Our fisheries are important to everyone and we all have a shared responsibility," Lukkien said.

"We are working with local iwi on their application for a temporary closure (under section 186A of the Fisheries Act) to the take of scallops, pāua and rock lobster, around Great Barrier Island (Aotea Island), Te Hauturu-o-Toi / Little Barrier Island, the Mokohinau Islands, Simpson Rock, and Horn Rock.

 "Once the application has been finalised it will go through the usual processes including public consultation. Following consultation, the requestor will have the opportunity to provide feedback on the submissions, then Fisheries New Zealand will prepare advice to the Minister for Oceans and Fisheries for his consideration.

"Our records to hand date back to the year 2000 and don’t show any temporary closures (under 186A of the Fisheries Act) for these areas.

"The temporary closure around Waiheke Island took effect on 1 December 2021.

"We are working with Ngāti Manuhiri to refine the details of their request for a temporary closure in the Hauraki Gulf. Once finalised, this application will go through the processes outlined above."

Background on rāhui and temporary closures

Rāhui are placed by tangata whenua to protect an area or resources. To provide statutory support for their rāhui, tangata whenua may request that the Minister for Oceans and Fisheries imposes a temporary closure, under section 186A of the Fisheries Act 1996, over the same area.

A temporary closure prohibits recreational and commercial fishing, and the closure can be for up to two years.

Fishery Officers will enforce a temporary closure if it is approved.