The Sealord fisheries settlement

By the Treaty of Waitangi, as the 1992 fisheries settlement Act recites, the Crown guaranteed Māori 'full exclusive and undisturbed possession' of their fisheries. The Fisheries Act 1983 provided that nothing in it would affect any Māori fishing rights, but there was uncertainty and dispute between the Crown and Māori over the nature and extent of those rights in the modern context. The Fisheries Amendment Act 1986 introduced the Quota Management System, by which New Zealand's commercial fisheries are run.

Māori argued in the High Court and before the Waitangi Tribunal that the quota system was unlawful and in breach of the principles of the treaty. The Muriwhenua iwi of the Far North had included their traditional fishing rights in a claim to the tribunal, but before it was fully heard the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries began issuing commercial quotas. In 1988 an urgent tribunal hearing found this contrary to treaty principles and said the Crown should negotiate with the Muriwhenua tribes before issuing more. High Court action then halted quota allocation throughout the country. At a national hui in Wellington in June 1988, the Māori principals were given a mandate to secure 'a just and honourable settlement' of their claims with the Crown. In 1989 an interim agreement transferred 10% of the quota, some 60,000 tonnes, together with shareholdings in fishing companies and $50 million in cash, to the Māori Fisheries Commission, which was to hold the assets until tribes agreed how to share them.

On 26 and 27 August 1992 Crown and Māori representatives met, and on 27 August they agreed a proposal for a final settlement. The deed was signed on 23 September 1992 by the Crown and negotiators including Sir Graham Latimer, Matiu Rata and Tīpene O'Regan, on behalf of iwi, the New Zealand Māori Council, the National Māori Congress and other representatives of iwi. Māori would join Brierley Investments to buy Sealord Products, New Zealand's largest fishing company, which was to hold 22% of the total quota. Under the deed, as the 1992 Act records it, the Crown would pay $150 million for Māori development in the fishing industry, including the Sealord purchase. The sources describe the money differently: NZHistory says the settlement vested $170 million in the commission to buy 50% of Sealord, while Te Ara lists the half-share, more shares in fishing companies, 20% of quota for any species brought into the system in future, and $18 million in cash. The commission became the Treaty of Waitangi Fisheries Commission. The deed also provided for regulations to recognise customary food gathering that was not commercial.

The Treaty of Waitangi (Fisheries Claims) Settlement Act 1992 received assent on 14 December 1992. It declared all Māori claims to commercial fishing 'finally settled', whether founded on the treaty, common law or statute, and barred any court or tribunal from inquiring into them or into the adequacy of the settlement. Non-commercial fishing claims would continue to give rise to treaty obligations on the Crown, but the underlying rights would no longer have legal effect except as provided for in regulations. The settlement applied whether or not a claim had been adjudicated by the courts or reported on by the tribunal.

Te Ara describes the 1992 deal as the first treaty settlement to affect all iwi. Dividing the assets caused much disagreement among Māori, NZHistory records, particularly between coastal and inland tribes and between traditional iwi and newer urban authorities, and the commission's task of allocating assets to tribes became the subject of much litigation. In 2003 more than 90% of tribes agreed to a proposal that held half the assets centrally and allocated the rest directly to tribes by coastline length and population. The Māori Fisheries Act 2004 then disbanded the commission, passing its assets to Aotearoa Fisheries Limited and its sole voting shareholder, Te Ohu Kaimoana. When that Act was passed, tribes were expected to receive around half of the estimated $750 million of settlement assets. Te Ara counts Māori as the largest group in New Zealand fisheries, controlling over a third of the industry, primarily because of the 1989 and 1992 settlements.