Māori Fisheries Amendment Act 2024

Overview

In July 2024, the Māori Fisheries Amendment Bill passed its third reading and received royal ascent as the Māori Fisheries Amendment Act 2024.

The amendments represent the most significant changes to the Māori fisheries settlement infrastructure in 20 years, and began as a part of the statutory review process that began in late 2014 and early 2015.

The Māori Fisheries Act 2004 established Te Ohu Kaimoana, Te Pūtea Whakatupu Trust (operating as Tapuwae Roa), Te Wai Māori Trust, and Aotearoa Fisheries Limited (trading as Moana NZ), and outlines the functions of those organisations, and the allocation of fisheries settlement assets to iwi.

Now that the Act is confirmed, we have entered into the implementation phase. This page will provide iwi organisations and asset holding companies the resources and supplementary information required as it comes to hand.

Current status of work programme

New director appointment processes for the boards of Te Ohu Kai Moana Trustee Limited (TOKMTL) and Aotearoa Fisheries Limited (AFL)

We are currently engaging with MIO, Asset Holding Companies (AHC) and Representative Māori Organisations (RMO) on draft appointment process models.  A link to these draft models and the supporting process can be found in the Resources for Iwi Organisations and Asset Holding Companies section below.

If you would like to meet with us to discuss the appointment process design work, please contact MFAA Programme Director, Tania Heyrick via email at: tania.heyrick@teohukaimoana.nz

MIO constitutional amendments

We encourage MIO to continue to progress amendments that will need to be made to governance documents to align with the MFAA changes. In December of 2024, we provided all MIO with the Māori Fisheries Act 2024 Iwi Information Pack (a copy of this can be found here).

This pack provides a detailed overview of the key changes and a suggested timeline for MIO to work towards. All changes will need to be in place by 26 July 2026, and our legal team are actively working with MIO to support these changes. If you have any pātai or would like to discuss these changes further please contact our General Counsel Brianna Boxall via email at: brianna.boxall@teohukaimoana.nz

Next steps

‍March 2026

• Director appointment process models presented at Annual Iwi Wānanga and Hui-ā-Tau (18 and 19 March 2026)
• All MIO to aim for approval of constitutions via MIO AGM (by March 2026)

26 July 2026

• Commencement date. All changes go live.

Handover period post July 2026

While the MFAA legislation requires the governance and operational processes to be in place by 26 July 2026, there will need to be a transitional period to allow time for the new relationships, responsibilities, and constitutional and operational policies and procedures across our Te Ohu Kaimoana kāhui and MIO/RIO/RMO/AHC to bed in.

If you have any pātai on the MFAA implementation, please contact MFAA Programme Director, Tania Heyrick, at: tania.heyrick@teohukaimoana.nz‍