NZ History MapAotearoa 1800–2000
Treaty & Crown–Māori relations

The Sealord fisheries settlement

When
23 September 1992
Reach
Nationwide

The Crown funded a Māori half-share in Sealord and allocated quota, settling commercial fisheries claims nationally in one deal.

The quota management system introduced in 1986 had allocated a public resource without regard to Treaty fishing rights, and the courts halted it. The settlement gave Māori a substantial stake in the commercial fishery and, unusually, was pan-tribal. Allocation between iwi then took more than a decade of litigation. It remains the model — and the cautionary tale — for large collective settlements.

Regions affected

WellingtonNelsonSouthlandBay of PlentyNorthlandGisborneNationwide

Sources

Written for this project from these references rather than copied from them. Follow a link to check the account against the original.

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