18 NOVEMBER 2005 NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE, No. 194 4859

integrity of the harbour, its mauri, and the special sites within and around it. The creation of this taiāpure is a vehicle for them to fulfil their duties in this regard.

Thus, we conclude for the purposes of section 174 of the Fisheries Act 1996 that Akaroa Harbour has customarily been an area of special significance to the constituent hapū of the rūnaka as a source of food, and for spiritual and cultural reasons. We have no doubt that a taiāpure as applied for (depicted on the map attached as Appendix A) would better provide for the recognition of rangatiratanga and the Māori interest in fisheries secured by Article II of the Treaty of Waitangi.

Issue 2

Can the area applied for properly be regarded as littoral or estuarine, as required by sections 174 and 175 of the Act?

Having determined that the marine areas to which the application relates are areas of special significance as required by section 174, the next task of this tribunal is to ascertain that those areas are also "areas of New Zealand fisheries waters (being estuarine or littoral coastal waters)".
 Thus, it is not enough that the areas are of special significance to applicant iwi and hapū: they must also be areas that are properly characterised as estuarine coastal waters or littoral coastal waters.

In our earlier report, we noted that neither the Fisheries Act 1996 nor its predecessor, the Fisheries Act 1983, contains a definition of estuarine or littoral waters.

We therefore looked to how previous tribunals have interpreted this language in exercising the jurisdiction to recommend taiāpure.

The approach taken by previous taiāpure tribunals

Previous taiāpure tribunals have developed the definition of littoral coastal waters. In the Report and Recommendations of the tribunal relating to the East Otago taiāpure application, Deputy Chief Judge Isaac considered the definition of "littoral coastal waters". A submitter there had referred to this definition of "littoral" in the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary:

...of or pertaining to the shore of the sea...existing or occurring on or adjacent to the shore...or designating, or pertaining to the zone of the shore extending from the high-water mark to the low water mark or to the edge of the continental shelf...

Deputy Chief Judge Isaac noted the focus here to the land on shore rather than to the fishery waters adjacent to the shore. He referred to the object and purpose of Part IX of the Fisheries Act 1996, which is to set aside certain areas of New Zealand fishing waters, being littoral coastal waters. In other words, the focus of the Act is on the littoral region of the ocean – that is, on the waters adjacent to shore, and not the strip of land along the coast between the high and low water mark.

Deputy Chief Judge Isaac regarded as more apposite this definition in the Dictionary of Geography:

The littoral region of the ocean comprises the shallow waters adjacent to the sea coast; this region has the richest vegetation and so supports the most abundant animal life.

Deputy Chief Judge Isaac also stated that the size or limits of the littoral zone may differ in each proposed taiāpure depending on the areas fished and the type of fishing customarily carried out.


 Section 174 of the Act.


 25 August 1997, page 8.