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Application for a mātaitai reserve at Orari, South Canterbury

Your views sought

Te Rūnanga o Arowhenua has applied for a mātaitai reserve at Orari, South Canterbury.

Fisheries New Zealand and Te Rūnanga o Arowhenua will hold a public meeting to discuss the application and invite submissions on the proposal from the local community.

This is the first of 2 consultations that will be held about the application.

Find out about the second consultation

What's being proposed?

The proposed area includes the lower reaches of the Orari River, Coopers Creek and Ohapi Creek, east of State Highway 1 at Temuka, South Canterbury, and the adjoining streams, creeks and bodies of water within a defined boundary. 

Consultation documents

Map of the proposed Orari Mātaitai Reserve [PDF, 11 MB]

Application from Te Rūnanga o Arowhenua for the Orari Mātaitai Reserve [PDF, 604 KB]

Public meeting planned for Temuka

As part of this consultation, a public meeting will be held to discuss the application.

Time: 7pm
Date: Thursday, 6 July 2023
Venue: Arowhenua Marae, 39 Huirapa St, Temuka

Contact details and location of marae – Te Rūnanga o Arowhenua  

Making your submission

Submissions close at 5pm on Monday, 7 August 2023.

Email your submission to FMSubmissions@mpi.govt.nz

While we prefer email, you can post your submission to:

Fisheries management – Spatial allocations
Fisheries New Zealand
PO Box 2526
Wellington 6140.

Public notices about this consultation

Public notices about the meeting with the local community and the call for submissions are scheduled to appear as follows:

 The Christchurch Press and the Timaru Herald:

  • Monday, 26 June 2023
  • Tuesday, 4 July 2023

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.

About mātaitai reserves

A mātaitai reserve is an identified traditional fishing ground which tangata whenua have a special relationship with. Mātaitai reserves are limited to fisheries waters and do not include any land area. Mātaitai reserves do not change any existing arrangements for access to private land.

Mātaitai reserves also do not affect private landowners’ land titles, or their ability to exercise resource consents for such things as taking water or extracting gravel or sand. Resource consents are managed under the Resource Management Act 1991.

Mātaitai reserves do not change the existing recreational fishing rules however commercial fishing is banned in a mātaitai reserve.

Mātaitai reserves do not havec an impact on whitebait or trout fishing.

Find out more about mātaitai reserves

Fisheries (South Island Customary Fishing) Regulations 1999 – NZ Legislation

Submissions are public information

Note that all, part, or a summary of your submission may be published on this website. Most often this happens when we issue a document that reviews the submissions received.

People can also ask for copies of submissions under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA). The OIA says we must make the content of submissions available unless we have good reason for withholding it. Those reasons are detailed in sections 6 and 9 of the OIA.

If you think there are grounds to withhold specific information from publication, make this clear in your submission or contact us. Reasons may include that it discloses commercially sensitive or personal information. However, any decision MPI makes to withhold details can be reviewed by the Ombudsman, who may direct us to release it.

Official Information Act 1982 – NZ Legislation