Mike Butler: ‘Fishing’ tribes say bill breaches treaty

Tribal business leaders claim the government’s rejection of a recommendation to exempt iwi from re-flagging foreign charter vessels is a modern breach of the Treaty of Waitangi that would diminish the fisheries settlement by between 20 and 30 percent.

About 60 tribal business leaders were to discuss the bill at the Iwi Leaders Forum meeting in Te Kuiti on Friday. The bill had its second reading in Parliament on April 15.

Mike Butler: Fisheries bill exempts tribes

A bill aimed at protecting workers on fishing boats in New Zealand waters has had a last-minute change at select committee stage that would exempt tribal quota owners, some of whom have been linked to some of the worst abuses of the system.

The Fisheries (Foreign Charter Vessels and Other Matters) Amendment Bill, which initially required all quota holders to use New Zealand-flagged vessels by 2016, was amended by parliament's primary production select committee to give the chief executive of the Ministry for Primary Industries the right to grant exemptions to operators whose catch entitlement is ''derived from settlement quota'' - a reference to Treaty of Waitangi settlements.