Maori fishing rights row goes to London court
A court in London was today being called on to settle a long-running legal battle in New Zealand between traditional and urban Maoris over ownership of fishing assets.
The bitter dispute stems from a government decision in 1989 to award fishing rights worth $850m New Zealand dollars (£264 million) to 78 traditional tribes, known as ‘‘iwi.’’
The deal was reached as compensation for former breaches of the 1840 Waitangi Treaty New Zealand’s founding document, in which Maoris consented to white settlement in return for ‘‘exclusive and undisturbed possession’’ of their land and fisheries.
But Maoris who live away from their traditional tribal lands say they were cut out of the deal and are fighting for a share. The rights give Maoris control of half of the country’s commercial fishing quota each year.
The legal battle has now reached the London-based Privy Council, New Zealand’s highest appellate court.
Urban Maori groups have spent millions of dollars in their campaign to have the definition of ‘‘iwi’’ broadened to include city dwellers as well as traditional tribes.
Maoris number more than 500,000 in New Zealand’s population of just under four million. Activists claim they are still suffering from wide scale land theft and alienation by European settlers.
The traditional tribes, which have so far won every stage of the court battle, rely on New Zealand law which required ownership of the fisheries assets to be returned to the traditional 19th century owners, the ‘‘iwi.’’
Maui Solomon, head of the Waitangi Fisheries Commission, which holds the fisheries assets in trust for the ‘‘iwi’’ tribes, said: ‘‘The legislation requires quite explicitly that (the) assets be allocated to the iwi,’’ Solomon said.
He said he did not believe the Privy Council would overturn the majority decision of the New Zealand Court of Appeal, backing the original deal.
