Moeraki Mātaitai bylaws
About the Moeraki Mātaitai Reserve
The Moeraki Mātaitai Reserve, north of Dunedin, was established in 2010. Tangata tiaki/kaitiaki (guardians) are appointed as the fisheries managers responsible for the reserve by the Minister of Fisheries.
In 2017, the tangata tiaki/kaitiaki notified the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) that they wanted to introduce bylaws to prevent overfishing of pāua in the Moeraki Mātaitai Reserve.
Fishing rules under the bylaws
Following consultation, the Minister of Fisheries on 26 April 2018 approved bylaws for the Moeraki Mātaitai Reserve.
Under the bylaws, any fisher in the reserve:
- has a daily bag limit of 3 pāua (both blackfoot and yellowfoot pāua)
- is banned from taking any pāua from the Turaka Waka and Tikoraki/Tawhiroko areas in the reserve.
The bylaws are in place and take effect from 25 May 2018.
Read the Moeraki Mātaitai bylaws Notice – NZ Gazette
Download a map of the bylaw areas in the Moeraki Mātaitai [PDF, 203 KB]
Mātaitai reserves and customary fishing
Mātaitai reserves are identified traditional fishing areas where tangata whenua sustainably manage fisheries through bylaws. Bylaws apply generally to all persons fishing in the mātaitai reserve.