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Application for a mātaitai reserve over the lower reaches of the Tautuku and Fleming Rivers, Otago

Update – 17 July 2023

Minister's decision

Following consultation, the Minister for Oceans and Fisheries has declared a mātaitai reserve over the lower reaches of the Tautuku and Fleming Rivers, South Otago. The reserve comes into effect on 8 August 2023.

Tautuku Mātaitai Reserve map [PDF, 2.6 MB]

Tautuku Mātaitai Reserve Gazette notice

Commercial fishing in this mātaitai reserve is prohibited under regulation 24(2) of the Fisheries (South Island Customary Fishing) Regulations 1999, with one exception:


  • Fish taken commercially from outside the mātaitai reserve may be landed within the mātaitai reserve.

Consultation background

Te Rūnanga o Awarua applied for a mātaitai reserve over the lower reaches of the Tautuku and Fleming Rivers, Otago. Fisheries New Zealand and Te Rūnanga o Awarua 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.

What was proposed?

The approximate area of the proposed mātaitai reserve included 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 covered those South Island fisheries waters within the following lines:

  1. 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
  2. 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
  3. Includes the lower reaches of the Tautuku River up to the Chaslands Highway; and
  4. 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 document

Download a copy of the application [PDF, 490 KB]

Public notices

Public notices about the meeting with the local community and the call for written or electronic submissions were scheduled to appear in the Otago Daily Times on:

  • Saturday 1 February 2020
  • Tuesday 11 February 2020.

A notice was also to appear in the Southland Express on Thursday 13 February 2020.

A second consultation was held

After the local community consultation period closed, Fisheries New Zealand held a second consultation. This invited 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.

Find out about the second consultation

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.