The New Zealand Centre for Political Research (NZCPR) has launched a campaign to have the foreshore and seabed returned to public ownership. This would mean repealing the Act, but acknowledge this will not happen without a tsunami of public concern. You can read more about this campaign in a recent NZCPR article ‘Return the Coast to Public Ownership’.

The High Court’s initial ‘priority’ claim under the Marine and Coastal Area Act is for a stretch of coastline in the southern Hawke’s Bay from Whangaehu to Cape Turnagain - see CIV-2011-485-789 here >https://www.nzcpr.com/marine-and-coastal-area-act-claim-ap…/ 

The process is underway to hear the applications for the recognition of customary interests that have been registered in the High Court. The initial focus has been on applications where the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations, on behalf of the Crown, has already decided to engage. They are listed on the Ministry of Justice website - to view please click HERE.

Back in 2003 the Judges in the Court of Appeal case that triggered the foreshore and seabed controversy indicated that there would probably be no more than a few pockets of customary title still in existence. But fifteen years later, following the introduction of the Marine and Coastal Area Act, (MACA Act), we are faced with every square inch of the coastline being claimed, in some places many times over. By the deadline 3 April 2017, 587 claims had been lodged, 202 to be heard in the High Court, the other 385 to be dealt with by Crown engagement, i.e. directly with the Government.

Update on claims made under the Marine and Coastal Area Act

The first of case management conferences in relation to 202 High Court applications filed under the Marine and Coastal Area Act 2011 have been held in various locations around New Zealand, overseen by the Honourable Justice Collins. The transcripts of these cases are available HERE.

Those seeking to gain control of the coastline are not confined to making claims under the Marine and Coastal Area Act. Although not in the same league as the nearly 600 claims under the Act, there are also a growing number of areas approved as special customary management zones, such as mātaitai reserves, (customary fishing reserves), and taiapure, (local fisheries which give Maori customary area management rights). We are also seeing increased calls by Maori entities for temporary closures and restrictions on fishing methods, and the introduction of fisheries bylaws.

Currently, the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations, on behalf of the Crown, is engaging with groups where the Crown had an existing commitment before 2017. The groups are:

The Nga Rohe Moana o Ngati Porou Bill (No 2) gives Ngati Porou two years to put in a claim for the recognition of customary marine title under the Marine and Coastal Area Act.  The iwi is seeking customary title and rights over the over a significant part of the East Coast coastline down to Gisborne.

Case management conferences have now been scheduled for the priority cases and their overlapping claims. These will take place between 28th May and 27th June, in 10 locations throughout the country - from Whangarei to Dunedin. These hearings are only for claimants and their counsel.

There are two pathways claimants to the marine and coastal area could choose to file applications for the recognition of customary interests, i.e. the High Court route and/or direct engagement with the Crown. The Attorney General is currently involved in the first stage of dealing with the claims filed in the High Court. In the meantime, we hear that the government has agreed to negotiate Te Whanau a Apanui’s marine and coast area claim and its historical claim in the one package. See Waatea news item here.