Dear Minister

My wife Takutai and I attended your road show in Blenheim. I raised an issue; you said I would be contacted so there would be further discussion.
Your secretary took our contact details but as yet contact has not been made!

Ownership of the seabed is an issue about perception. In 1850 Maori owned and controlled the vast majority of NZ, the pakeha population was roughly 2,000 people Maori population over 500,000.

The perception of the time was that Maori owned the land and resources; this was guaranteed by Article 2 of the Treaty of Waitangi.

“Full exclusive and undisturbed possession of their lands forests and fisheries.”

This ownership was acknowledged by the New Zealand company who when they purchased the village of Waitohi off Te Atiawa in 1840, also purchased the seabed out as far as Mabel island  so that they could develop a working port.

This is a significant precedent as the NZ Company were heavily involved  in large scale land purchases around Whanganui, Wellington, Blenheim, Nelson, Lyttelton.

I know of no act of parliament where any successive govt ever proclaimed govt ownership of the foreshore and seabed we agree that the 2004 act was an act of modern day confiscation, and a huge black mark against the Labour government.

We saw the act and the furore over access to the beaches as a red herring when the govts real focus was on total ownership, they knew that in the next 100 yrs the countries wealth will be in the unexploited resources under the sea in the form of gold, diamonds, other ores, precious minerals, oil, fish stocks, iron sands etc….

We are pleased that this act is to be repealed and would like to see it adjudicated in the Maori land court and supreme court., we would rather see  the courts ratify ownership as opposed to the “Lets make a deal approach, “ that seems to be favoured by the minister.

This issue over ownership needs to be sorted once and for all or it will continue to haunt future generations, we owe it to our grand children to sort this issue properly, property rights and customary rights.

Heoi ano, the taki that we raised with the minister is a burning issue in the Queen Charlotte Sounds, the issue over the National Govt bill that has allowed for the unfettered growth of aquaculture.

Government has also pressured our local body government  to change our District Plan to open the Sounds up and make it into one great big aquaculture farm.

These licenses are for the right to occupy the seabed for 35 yrs, council draft them as controlled activities which means that when the time frame is up the council have no option but to renew. ( provided they comply with conditions. )

This is the right to occupy in perpetuity, OWNERSHIP OF THE SEABED.

The Queen Charlotte is the only true sheltered recreational area between the Hauraki and Fiordland, and as such needs to be protected and restored, for recreation and tourism, ideally as a National park.

Mr Minister you told me that you weren’t the man to speak to, that I should be talking to the minister of fisheries, Conservation…… I know all that BUT this act is about ownership of the foreshore and SEABED, that this government is happy to sell off to multinational companies with leases held in perpetuity.

The Pelorus Sounds is now full to the eyes with aquaculture farms, now they want to take over the ownership of our seabed as well.

We honestly believe that licenses to occupy our seabed needs to be an issue that is addressed under this act and respectfully request that you acknowledge the issue that we have raised.
The Queen Charlotte Sounds Tourisim industry representatives and Guardians Of The Sounds, are happy to meet with you and discuss this issue in more detail.
Noho Ora Mai,
Pete & Takutai Beech.
Chairman of The Guardians of The Sounds, and Eco-Tour operator in the Queen Charlotte Sounds.

Kia Ora everyone,
Well its that time again, another 12 months of campaigning behind us, so whats to report;
Well the issue that has dominated our energies for the last 12 months has been the Methyl bromide fumigations at Port Shakespear. Every fumigation releases up to 5 tons of a deadly toxin into the atmosphere with no controls , and limited conditions Methyl Bromide is a neurotoxin that you can not see, taste or smell and culminates in your system.

You and I need to have a resource consent to light a bonfire, because of the smoke, Marlborough District Council are going to ban log fires because they pollute the atmosphere , yet they wont insist on Genera the fumigators or Port Marlborough  having to have a resource consent for this potentially lethal activity.

This is because of their vested interests , Marlborough District Council are the 3rd biggest forest owners in Marlborough, and they own 100% of the shares in Port Marlborough.

It’s hard to believe that in this day and age that a district council could put their vested interests ahead of the health and safety of our port workers and the entire Picton community.

Because of the campaigning done by the Guardians, Soil and health and the Green Party. Erma the govt agency vested with the task of overseeing the use of toxic substances has initiated a reassessment of the use of Methyl Bormide.

Their initial recommendation was to do nothing for 10 yrs, it was a decision reached after weighing up the benefits that M/B has to the national economy opposed to the negative impact that it has on health and safety and the environment.

Their latest recommendation after reading all the submissions is virtually unchanged, although they say that that could change if new information comes to light following the hearing of verbal submissions that we will be making this coming Wed, but Don’t Hold your Breath. !

The reality is that Erma aren’t going to do anything , so the sooner this reassessment is completed the better and we can put pressure on the Marlborough District Council to put  use the tools in their tool box to make it a consented activity and put a robust air plan in place .

Remember that it is election year so you need to be mindful of which Councilors have been supportive throughout this campaign.

I’d like to thank all the people who took part in the two protest rallies held in the past year, it takes a huge amount of energy to organize a rally , on the 17th of Sept we held a large rally on the Picton Foreshore, Tony Coia then gave us a subsidized price to run his big bus through to Blenheim , ( for the first time in the history of our province, the people of Picton marched on Blenheim.

We then stacked the public gallery of the MDC committee room , and it nearly turned into a riot when the Mayor said that we were just a noisy minority who didn’t represent the Picton community, however sanity prevailed, but it was very disappointing to witnesses our two Picton concillors vote against  us !

Another rally was held on the 23rd of April , again a wonderful turnout, this time supported by the combined trade unions, we got a letter back from Sue Kedgley thanking the Guardians for organizing the rally , she said that of the  rallies held in CHCH, Picton Wellington and Tauranga , the Picton rally was by far the biggest and the most effective .

Other issues that we have been involved in:
Back in Feb Guardians along with mooring owners, iwi and Stephan Browning were influential in preventing Port Marlborough from obtaining a resource consent to obtain a licence for control of the seabed of Shakespear Bay.
If granted this would of given them the virtual ownership in perpetuity, ( privatization of the Seabed.) The application was declined in its entirety and has set an important precedent. In regards to privatization of the Seabed of the Queen Charlotte Sounds.

We have attended the  Govt road show over the Foreshore and Seabed Act and sent in our submission.
We have been involved in the Picton advisory group, but have resigned from this until such time as they restructure , as it is, it is nothing but a talk fest that the Marlborough District Council set the agendas, they provide the facilitator, they audit the minutes, the members representing stakeholders don’t have a mandate to vote on an issue  as the representative of their organizations, so no votes can be taken and no resolutions reached.

It is just another example of the Marlborough District Council manipulating our community with a seen to be done consultation exercise , but as an entity they have no teeth.

We put them to the test and after about 3 months finally got the majority of the members to vote to get the Marlborough District Council to put an airplan in place to stop the release of Methyl Bromide over Picton.
A letter to that effect was sent to the Mayor,  before the Sept rally and subsequent council meeting to discuss the issue.
The Mayor said he never received the letter and both the councilors voted against us.!

So that was re enforced our suspicions that this group is a waste of time.

I have been attending the
Marlborough District Council focus group  meetings to do with the marine side of the rewrite of the Regional policy statement , this has been a battle but we have been able to influence this process to a degree.

As I told you this time last yr, I fear that our biggest challenge is ahead of us with the Govt, and their Aquaculture amendment bill that allows for the unfettered growth of aquaculture, and them ordering the Marlborough District Council to make changes to the District ( Sounds Plan ) to open the Marlborugh Sounds up for the development of aquaculture.

Before the end of the yr you will see the application by King Salmon for 5 new AMA’s ( Aquaculture Management Areas), if they only put one farm per area this will effectively double the number of Salmon Farms in the Queen Charlotte Sound in one hit.
Believe me that is just the start of the privatization of our seabed !

So the battles continue, unfortunately our bank account is nearly empty with less than $500  left, we will be sending out the membership accounts after the AGM so if you want us to keep fighting to keep the Marlborough Sounds as a recreational area and not have it taken over by the multinationals, industries and corporate entities  please give us your support.

We are happy to give freely of our time and energy but there is an associated cost and without your financial support this has to come out of our own pockets.

On a positive note the Marlborough Sounds Restoration Trust that Guardians support has gone from strength to strength  in the last year, the Wilding Pine project has been remarkably successful and on 18th of May we will be holding a workshop to discuss new projects that the trust could be involved in like Pest Control, native reforestation projects, programmes to reintroduce  native birds that have been lost to the area.

Every year the sounds environment is getting more and more beautiful as the bush regenerates, but there is lots that we can do to accelerate this process.

One of the wonderful spin offs of the wilding pine project is that many of the Sounds bay communities have got actively involved  with the trust, this community  involvement is something that we want to develop more with future projects.
If any of you have questions about the trust give me a call.

Well that’s more than enough from me, Go well everyone , hope you have a warm and dry winter, Keep the Home Fires Burning ,
Arohanui,
Pete & Takutai

Kia Ora koutou,

The Guardians of the Sounds would like to acknowledge Maori rights to the Foreshore and Seabed, those rights had never been extinguished through legislation, nor had it ever been purchased, the foreshore and seabed legislation was in our view a modern day act of confiscation.

Guardians have fought long and hard to protect the natural environment of the Totaranui,( Queen Charlotte Sounds.) and the culture and physical health and well being of our people.

The whole foreshore and seabed debarcle started here in Marlborough, as a result of squabbles over  unfair allocation of the seabed for aquaculture farms , this was because of the way that the MDC hearings committee had allowed themselves to be manipulated by the industry players. In other words they had allowed themselves to be corrupted.

Well after all their posturing it is happening again, the MDC have stuck a backroom deal with the  aquaculture industry, they are seeking a variation to the district plan which will get rid of the tendering process,and allow aquaculture companies to apply for private plan changes to select AMA areas.( Aquaculture Marine Areas. )    All this without public consultation.

If a company wants a farm in an area that is not designated as an AMA it can apply to the MOF’s and they will allocate them with an experimental license.

This will mean that the seabed of the Marlborough Sounds will end up being owned by large multinational companies who will monopolize the seabed , the terrible pollution that results from aquaculture farms will ruin the sounds environment and the Sounds people will be powerless to stop it.

You might well say that marine farmers don’t own the sea bed that they only have a right to occupy for a period of time, that’s correct technically, the term is usually for 25 yrs , however we have tried to get salmon farms removed when their time was up but was told that  council  could apply new  conditions, but could not remove the farms.  So once they are allocated these companies have a transferable right to the seabed in perpeturity.

The Port Company a subsidiary of the MDC have recently embarked on a course of action which will give them not ownership per say, but absolute control of the foreshore and seabed of Shakespear bay, Waikawa Bay and whatamungo Bays.

This is over allocation of boat moorings and the right to occupy the seabed. When coastal occupancy charges are introduced the MDC will be making a fortune out of the seabed allocations in the Marlborugh Sounds and Maori wont have a bar of it.

The Port Company also have plans for a massive marina development in Waikawa Bay, out over our cockle beds and are steaming ahead with these plans over top of Iwi objections.

These are all issues that need to be addressed by the Foreshore and Seabed Act, the implications are far more serious than just concentrating on public access.

Another thing to be wary of is that all NZ Port companies are council owned and their returns are very poor, any council accountant will tell you it would be far better financially for them to privatize, this would inevitably result in foreign ownership of NZ Ports.

An interesting thing was discovered during the claims process, and that was that when Picton town was purchased by The NZ Company from Te Atiawa they also purchase ownership of Picton Harbour, so back then it was acknowleged that Maori had legal ownership of the seabed.