Dame Naida Glavish
In 1835 at the signing of the declaration of independence Aperahama Taonui did state “he taniwha kei te haere mai, ōna niho hei hiriwa he kōura ki tona kai he whenua. Kaua e mataku i te hiriwa me te kōura, engari kaua e tōku e te hiriwa me te kōura hei atuatanga mōu. Kei a u ki ngā karanga atuatanga kaitiaki a wa tātou kai.” Do not absolve yourself of the god given right to protect our food source.

Shane Jones
Māori claims only came to the fore because of the agenda of the Labour government of that time to privatise the ownership of access rights to fisheries. But once people realised that the rights were being privatised, the ‘battle royale’ commenced.

Dame Naida Glavish
At the time, every one of us commissioners were hopeful that what we were doing was going to be beneficial to te iwi Māori.

Sir Tipene O’Regan
There was a general uproar within Te Ao Māori but not a lot of clarity about what to do.

Shane Jones
It is assumed that the relationship to the ocean is through the treaty. No, it goes back to the Pacific through the deeds of Māui.

Dan Hikuroa
The same time that Europeans began arriving, that Māori fishing rights began to erode.

Sir Tipene O’Regan
We had been trading fish with Sydney and Hobart prior to the Treaty of Waitangi. We traded fish with other tribes, and that constituted a commercial activity.

Jamie Tuuta
Political settlements, such as the Māori Fisheries Settlement, are always imperfect. It's fair to say there have been winners and losers.

Shane Jones
One of the downsides of the settlement was to pit tribe against tribe.

Jamie Tuuta
Coastline versus population, tensions that arose between individual iwi and regions. Those Iwi that weren’t heavily affected by raupatu and confiscation had larger populations than those that had.

Dame Naida Glavish
Those who opposed were highly skilled protesters. They deserved to have a voice.

Sir Tipene O’Regan
Kiwi banks were dogs.
Tell me Sir Tipene, why should I do this thing? Best we be cursed by our grandchildren.
If we haven’t done justice for our mokopuna, it's not from a want of trying.

Jamie Tuuta
We need to inspire our people to want to understand and to get involved, participate and care about Māori fisheries. Why? Because it's part of who we are.

Rachel Taulelei
It's marketing, it’s science, it’s innovation, it’s technology. I wish that more Māori knew what the opportunities were within fisheries.

Shane Jones
Māori are incredibly adaptable. The human race is adaptable. And we have the infinitive capacity of our creative abilities to find technological and scientific solutions to the challenges that confront us.

Rachel Taulelei
There's a lot of challenges for fisheries generally, so how do you collectivise in a way that makes the most of us being of one people? You have to really, really ask yourself hard questions, are we making the right decisions now to ensure for a prosperous future.

Shane Jones
We stood on the brow of the hill at Te Rerenga Wairua this enormous cloud of fish appeared on the surface of the ocean. It was smashed open by warehenga, kingfish, and at that point, it was evident that the settlement would result in people fleeing in all different directions.
And it would take a long time before the people came back together.