Source: Ministry for Primary Industries
Closing Date:
Contact: Fisheries Management – Spatial Planning and Allocations
Your views sought
Te Rūnanga o Awarua has applied for a mātaitai reserve over the lower reaches of the Tautuku and Fleming Rivers, Otago. Fisheries New Zealand and Te Rūnanga o Awarua will hold a public meeting on the application and invites 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 approximate area of the proposed mātaitai reserve includes the lower reaches of the Tautuku River extending upstream to the Chaslands Highway, and the Fleming River between its confluence with the Tautuku River and upstream to the Chaslands Highway. It covers those South Island fisheries waters within the following lines:
- From the starting point on the mean high-water mark on the northern side of the Tautuku River mouth at 46°36.759’S and 169°25.834’E; then
- By a straight line in a south-easterly direction to a point on the mean high-water mark of the Tautuku Peninsula at 46°35.980’S and 169°26.158’E; and
- Includes the lower reaches of the Tautuku River up to the Chaslands Highway; and
- Includes the lower reaches of the Fleming River between its confluence with the Tautuku River and up to the Chaslands Highway.
Map of proposed Tautuku mātaitai reserve [PDF, 3.2 MB]
Consultation documents
Download a copy of the application [PDF, 490 KB]
Attend the public meeting
Time: 6:30pm
Date: Friday 21 February 2020
Venue: Papatowai Fire Brigade Rooms, 3 Alexandra Street, Papatowai
Making your submission
The closing date for written or electronic submissions from the local community is 5pm, Monday 16 March 2020.
Email your submission to FMSubmissions@mpi.govt.nz
While we prefer email, you can post your submission to:
Fisheries Management – Spatial Planning and Allocations
Fisheries New Zealand
PO Box 2526
Wellington 6140
Public notices
Public notices about the meeting with the local community and the call for written or electronic submissions are scheduled to appear in the Otago Daily Times on:
- Saturday 1 February 2020
- Tuesday 11 February 2020.
A notice will also appear in the the Southland Express on Thursday 13 February 2020.
A second consultation is planned
After the local community consultation period has closed, Fisheries New Zealand will hold a second consultation. This will invite written or electronic submissions 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 by the proposed mātaitai reserve. The second consultation will be advertised in the same newspapers and on this website.
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.
