Ātiawa ki Whakarongotai has held, and continues to hold, the marine and coastal area within their rohe in accordance with their tikanga since 1840, the High Court has ruled.

In May-June 2024, the High Court heard applications for Customary Marine Title (CMT) within the area of Whangaehu to Whareroa. Ātiawa ki Whakarongotai were applicants in that hearing, seeking exclusive CMT in their rohe from Kūkūtauākī (near the Kōwhai Stream) to Whareroa.

On Friday 13 June the High Court released its decision, in which it found that “it is Te Ātiawa alone that have the holistic relationship with the seascape required to satisfy the test for CMT” in their rohe, outside areas of shared interests at the boundaries. Accordingly, the Court has determined that Ātiawa ki Whakarongotai are entitled to CMT in those areas

Tīhema Baker, Pou Ākau for Ātiawa ki Whakarongotai, says the decision affirms what they have always known and expressed about the nature of their rights and interests in relation to the takutai moana.

“We don’t need a court decision to tell us that we hold mana whenua and mana moana in our own rohe. But the rights granted by CMT will give us a useful legal mechanism to exercise that mana in consenting and other processes.”

Those rights include the ability to veto resource consents and conservation permission rights for particular activities, as well as input into local plans and national policy statements.

Management of the marine and coastal area by the Crown and local government has been disastrous for the marine environment, Baker says. In the Kāpiti Coast, this is evidenced through the toxic contamination of shellfish beds, destruction of marine habitat and loss of biodiversity.

Ātiawa ki Whakarongotai remain committed to expressing their rangatiratanga through the protection and restoration of the coastal marine environment, alongside their ART Confederation partners Raukawa ki te Tonga and Ngāti Toa Rangatira, for the benefit of their people and wider community.

© Scoop Media