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Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act 2011

Customary interests - Customary marine title - Interpretation matters

57A: Meaning of exclusive use and occupation

You could also call this:

"What does it mean to have exclusive use and occupation of a coastal area?"

Illustration for Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act 2011

You are part of a group that wants to know about exclusive use and occupation of a coastal area. This means you want to know if your group has control over the area without others interrupting. You need to show you had the intention and ability to control the area from start to end. You must have had both the intention and ability to control the area, keeping others out, from the start to the end of the time period. This time period must not have had any big interruptions. The law will look at whether you had control over the area without substantial interruption. The law applies to groups who are applying for a customary title, making a customary transfer, or have had a customary transfer made to them, as stated in the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) (Customary Marine Title) Amendment Act 2025.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS1539488.

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Topics:
Environment and resources > ConservationEnvironment and resources > Town planningMāori affairs > Māori land
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"Telling people about rules that protect special coastal areas"

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57B: Meaning of substantial interruption, or

"What is a substantial interruption to a group's use of a coastal area?"

Part 3Customary interests
Customary marine title: Interpretation matters

57AMeaning of exclusive use and occupation

  1. This section applies to a group or its members that is or are—

  2. an applicant group; or
    1. making a customary transfer; or
      1. a group or members of a group to whom a customary transfer was made.

        1. This section defines whether, for the purposes of this Act, the group or its members has, had, or have exclusive use and occupation of a specified area of the common marine and coastal area from the start to the end of the applicable period without substantial interruption.

        2. The group or its members has, had, or have exclusive use and occupation of the area from the start to the end of the applicable period without substantial interruption only if the group or its members had both the intention and the ability to control the area, to the exclusion of others, from the start to the end of the applicable period without substantial interruption.

        Notes
        • Section 57A: inserted, on , by section 8 of the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) (Customary Marine Title) Amendment Act 2025 (2025 No 58).