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Application for a mātaitai reserve north of Amberley Beach, Hurunui, North Canterbury

UPDATE – 16 JANUARY 2020

This consultation with the local community closed on 24 June 2019.

A second consultation is open until 24 February 2020. The second consultation is for those with a fishing interest in the proposed mātaitai reserve. Written submissions are invited from persons who take fish, aquatic life, or seaweed or own quota, and whose ability to take such fish, aquatic life, or seaweed or whose ownership interest in quota may be affected.

Find out about the second consultation round and have your say

Consultation background

Te Ngāi Tū Ahuriri Rūnanga applied for a mātaitai reserve along the coastline north of Amberley Beach in North Canterbury. Fisheries New Zealand and Ngāi Tū Ahuriri held a public meeting on the application and invited submissions on the proposal.

A mātaitai reserve is an identified traditional fishing ground and is established for the purpose of customary food gathering. Mātaitai reserves are limited to fisheries waters and do not include any land area.

Find out more about mātaitai reserves

What's being proposed?

The application is seeking approval for a mātaitai reserve over the fisheries waters extending northward from the end of Golf Links Road, along the coastline for 5.6km, and offshore 1km. It covers those South Island fisheries waters within the following lines:

  1. From the starting point on the mean high-water mark at 43°7.945'S and 172°50.614'E; then
  2. By a straight line in a south-easterly direction for approximately one kilometre to a point offshore at 43°8.417'S and 172°50.971'E; then
  3. By a line in a generally south-westerly direction, for approximately 4.8 kilometres, to a point offshore at 43°9.747'S and 172°48.280'E; then
  4. By a straight line in a north-westerly direction for approximately one kilometre to a point on the mean high-water mark at 43°9.431'S and 172°47.679'E (approximately at the end of Golf Links Road) then
  5. By a line in a generally north-easterly direction along the mean high-water mark to the starting point.

Proposed Waipara mātaitai reserve [PDF, 1.7 MB] 

Application document

Download a copy of the application [PDF, 465 KB]

Submissions are public information

Note, that any submission you make becomes public information. People can ask for copies of submissions under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA). The OIA says we have to make submissions available unless we have a good reason for withholding it.  That is explained in sections 6 and 9 of the OIA.

Tell us if you think there are grounds to withhold specific information in your submission. Reasons might include that it's commercially sensitive or it's personal information. However, any decision Fisheries New Zealand makes to withhold information can be reviewed by the Ombudsman, who may tell us to release it.