Changes to the Tītī (Muttonbird) Islands Regulations 1978
The changes will amend certain parts of the existing Tītī (Muttonbird) Islands Regulations 1978, and will come into effect early in January 2008.
The Tītī (Muttonbird) Islands Amendment Regulations 2007 are the outcome of the consultation process which the Department of Conservation began in October 2004.
Background
There were two quite separate matters addressed in the 2004-2007 process to change the regulations: 1. the role of the Department of Conservation in the day to day administration of the beneficial tītī islands; and 2. the Legal Recognition Project.
Approximately 250 submissions were received in November 2004, and a number of people took the opportunity to speak to these submissions. At the end of the process a hearing panel with an independent Chairperson made recommendations to the Department as to what changes should be made to the 1978 Regulations.
There was further consultation with the Ministry of Justice, Te Puni Kokori and the Rakiura Tītī Committee before the final recommendations for change were presented to the Governor General.
The key changes to the 1978 Regulations are as follows:
1. The Committee will undertake most of operational tasks previously undertaken by the Director General;
2. A new disputes resolution process is included in the Regulations to allow owners who are dissatisfied with decisions of the Committee to refer the matter to an independent person (or persons) to resolve the matter;
3. Beneficial owners will continue to authorise non Rakiura Māori family members (previously referred to as spouses, widows and widowers) to enter the islands and to take tītī, but instead of the provision being very prescriptive, these authorisations must be made "in accordance with the traditional customs and practices associated with the island in question"; and
4. For the purposes of Regulation 7 only, the spouse of a Rakiura Māori is defined to include the civil union and de facto partners of Rakiura Māori.
The Department's future role
The Department's official role in matters directly related to the beneficial tītī islands comes under four headings. The Department...
(i) may undertake any of the residual functions relating to the administration of the islands as set out in the Tītī (Muttonbird) Islands Regulations 1978;
(ii) may propose changes to the above regulations in accordance with s.48(1)(d) of the Conservation Act 1987;
(iii) must ensure that harvesting of tītī is undertaken in accordance with the s.6 of the Wildlife Act 1953; and
(iv) has other general roles and functions under the Conservation Act (e.g.. species transfers and providing advice on pest and weed management).
Further information
Under the Regulations the Director General (or in this case his delegate) is still able to call meetings of Rakiura Māori; to take prosecutions under the Regulations and to receive recommendations from the Committee on matters to do with the beneficial tītī islands.
The Department will continue to have the residual responsibilities which are set out above as well as their more general responsibilities under the Wildlife Act and the Conservation Act. In particular, the Department is looking forward to working with the Committee and beneficial owners to build on the great work done by the birders and Kā Mate ngā Kiore Inc. to eradicate rats and other predators off a number of the tītī islands. The next step in that project is to work with the birding community to develop and implement a translocation proposal to return some of the taonga species to the various tītī islands.
Tītī (Muttonbird) Islands Amendment Regulations 2007 View the unofficial version along with a Q & A information sheet and a summary document which sets out the regulation changes in table form.