Submission Information

Fisheries and Other Sea-related Legislation
(Miles Reay SC-MA@parliament.govt.nz,)

On 18 May the committee considered both the Maori Fisheries Bill and the Seabed and Foreshore Bill. The committee will continue consideration of the Maori Fisheries Bill on 25 May.

The committee is inviting public submissions on the Foreshore and Seabed Bill. Copies can be purchased from Bennetts Government Bookshops, and information on the bill can be obtained from www.beehive.govt.nz/foreshore/home.cfm

Submissions close on Monday, 12 July 2004.

The bill establishes a new comprehensive framework for recognizing rights and interests in the foreshore and seabed, clarifies the status of those areas, and provides for the recognition of customary rights and interests.

The main elements of the bill are:
a.. - vesting in the Crown the full legal and beneficial ownership of the public foreshore and seabed, to enable it to be preserved in perpetuity for the people of New Zealand
b.. - providing for general rights of public access and recreation in, on, over, and across the public foreshore and seabed, and a general right of navigation
c.. - recognizing ancestral connection of Mâori groups with particular areas of the public foreshore and seabed, and providing the opportunity for more effective participation in decision-making processes
d.. - recognizing customary activities of the public foreshore and seabed, and protecting them under the Resource Management Act 1991
e.. - enabling a group to seek a finding by the High Court that it would have been entitled to hold territorial customary rights to the public foreshore and seabed, had ownership not been vested in the Crown.

For further guidance on making a submission, our publication Making a Submission to a Parliamentary Select Committee can be found on our website at www.clerk.parliament.govt.nz

Please direct inquiries to Miles Reay (04) 471 9043

Submissions should be addressed to the Clerk of Committee
Fisheries and Other Sea-related Legislation Committee
Room 9.12a
Bowen House
Parliament Buildings
WELLINGTON