From today recreational and commercial fishers are now longer able to fish three offshore reefs under the new Motiti Protection Area.
Those three areas comprise of Ōtaiti (Astrolabe Reef); including Te Papa (Brewis Shoal), Te Porotiti, and Okarapu Reef, Motuhaku Island (Schooner Rocks) and Motunau Island (Plate Island).
The Bay of Plenty regional Council says the new protection area was a directive of the Environment Court, following a complex six-year court case.
In its ruling the court identified the biodiversity and cultural values of the reefs, and their need of protection.
General Manager of Regulatory Services, Sarah Omundsen, acknowledges it has been an unusual process and one that didn’t provide an opportunity for feedback or input from tangata whenua and the public.
“Regardless of how we got here, we now have an opportunity to hit pause and take some time to understand these important places,” she says.
She says the regional council is working with dive clubs to find a safe way to anchor boats in these areas.
“Anchoring risks damaging the vulnerable plants and animals the rules have been introduced to protect.
“Together we’ve come up with some guidelines on how people can safely anchor at the reefs without causing damage,” she says.
The Regional Council says its aware of the pressure these protected areas will put on Motiti Island, and is working with Te Patuwai Tribal Committee and Motiti landowners to monitor that pressure.
Eunice Evans from the committee says tangata whenua and tangata moana will work closely with the regional council, to make sure hapū are involved with monitoring and decisions relating to Motiti Islandand surrounding waters.
The marine protection area is the only one of its kind in the Bay of Plenty, and the new rules mean people can no longer take any kind of marine life from the reefs.
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