Wednesday, 31 May 2023

Quota management and environmental stewardship

I hadn't seen it put this way before, but it's rather nice. 

Dion Tuuta, Pou Whakahaere (Chief Executive), Te Kotahitanga o Te Atiawa, talked about the NZ Quota Management System at a fisheries symposium in February. The proceedings report paraphrased his comments:

The QMS does something very rare in Aotearoa, as Sir Tipene O'Regan, one of our chief negotiators of the settlement articulates, it blends a treaty right with a conservation system to achieve the outcome of sustainable use, which is a very Māori approach to resource management. So, by virtue of the 1992 settlement, the Quota Management System is the only fisheries management system mandated by Māori.

"The QMS is now 37 years old, and to me that continues to represent kaitiakitanga in action at a national level. It is generally misunderstood, it is maligned by those who oppose commercial fishing, but it has been a tremendous success for New Zealand in moderating unregulated fisheries pressure."

Similar approaches could yet be applied for water and nutrient management.