Indigenous settlements and market environmentalism: An untimely coincidence?

Abstract

This chapter considers the entanglement of indigeneity and neoliberalism in Aotearoa/New Zealand in the context of fisheries. A relationship, I argue, that is mediated by market environmentalism. This is given substance in two Acts: The Treaty of Waitangi (Fisheries Claims) Settlement Act 1992, which resolved commercial claims against the Crown, and the complementary Fisheries (Kaimoana Customary Fishing) Regulations 1998, which legislated for customary fishing activities. The settlement was made feasible by the implementation of new forms of enclosures in the seascape—that is, individualised property rights, ITQs (individual transferable quota).