NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE, No. 99 — 27 SEPTEMBER 2017

found in the dictionary but suggested that the purpose of a taiapure was clear. I note that Hansard’s record of the second reading of the Māori Fisheries Bill in 1989 refers to similar concerns about the term and notes that it was expressly composed for the bill:

John Luxton

...One of the notable submissions from the Māori people did not have a clue about the term about taiapure. It was not mentioned in their dictionary; it is a new word made up by the Minister for this occasion(^2). (sic)

[17] Notwithstanding the origins of the term “taiapure”, I am satisfied that as a result of the discussions that took place at the hearing the iwi participants understood the nature of taiapure.

The nature of taiapure

[18] Taiapure are provided for in Part IX of the Act. Part IX was first enacted by the Māori Fisheries Act 1989 (“1989 Act”) as a new Part IIIA of the then Fisheries Act 1983. The 1989 Act sought to address Māori Treaty claims to fisheries. The taiapure regime was the statutory tool to make better provision for Māori Treaty interests in local non-commercial fisheries.

[19] A taiapure may be granted in relation to specific fisheries waters that have customarily been of special significance to particular iwi or hapū (section 174):

174 Object

The object of sections 175 to 185 of this Act is to make, in relation to areas of New Zealand fisheries waters (being estuarine or littoral coastal waters) that have customarily been of special significance to any iwi or hapū either—

a. as a source of food; or

b. for spiritual or cultural reasons,—

better provision for the recognition of rangatiratanga and of the right secured in relation to fisheries by Article II of the Treaty of Waitangi.

[20] By Order in Council an area may be declared a taiapure (s 175):

175 Declaration of taiapure-local fisheries

Subject to section 176 of this Act, the Governor-General may from time to time, by Order in Council, declare any area of New Zealand fisheries waters (which waters are estuarine waters or littoral coastal waters) to be a taiapure-local fishery.

[21] The Minister is then required to appoint a committee of management for each taiapure (s 184). This occurs after consultation with the Minister of Māori Affairs and upon the nomination of the persons who appear to be representative of the “local Māori community”. The committee of management may then recommend to the Minister the making of regulations under s 186 or s 297 or s 298 “for the conservation and management of the fish, aquatic life, or seaweed” in the taiapure (s 185).

[22] Thus, the nature of a taiapure in terms of its practical effect is that the local Māori community, through a committee of management, may recommend to the Minister regulations for the conservation and management of a particular fishery.

“Rangatiratanga” and the right secured in relation to fisheries by Article II of the Treaty

[23] The object of taiapure is to make “better provision for the recognition of rangatiratanga and of the right secured in relation to fisheries by Article II of the Treaty of Waitangi” (s 174). The dispute between Te Aupōuri and the iwi objectors gives rise to the question, what is the rangatiratanga that this part of the Act seeks to promote?(^3)

[24] During the inquiry I heard much about mana-whenua and kaitiakitanga, but little about “rangatiratanga” in relation to fisheries. Somewhat appropriately, the Waitangi Tribunal in its Muriwhenua Fishing Report(^4) addressed rangatiratanga in relation to fisheries. The Tribunal discussed “tino rangatiratanga” in the Treaty by comparison with the English translation of “full authority”:

Mainly we are introduced to a concept of full chieftainship over lands and all things important or highly prized. We prefer “full authority” to the literal full chieftainship. Essentially, Māori authority is personified in chiefs but derives from the people. Māori understood ‘rangatiratanga’ to mean ‘authority’. Accordingly, when discussing the Treaty, Māori often substituted mana which includes authority but has also a more powerful meaning.(^5)