Mike Butler: Kermadecs, tribes, fishing rights

A dispute between those in charge of tribal fishing interests and the government over the proposed marine sanctuary around the Kermadecs is déjà vu all over again for those who remember the overblown claims of 30 years ago for Maori to share in the growing commercial fishing industry.

A year ago, Prime Minister John Key announced on a trip to New York that 620,000 square kilometres of sea around the Kermadec Islands, which is 1000 kilometres from New Zealand, would be closed forever to fishing and ocean-floor mining.