Tauranga iwi are being asked to join forces to provide a collaborative approach to fishing rights.

The Maori Fisheries Trust, Te Ohu Kaimoana, believes different fisheries sectors in New Zealand are pitted against each other, arguing about who should go first.

Trust chairman Matiu Rei says iwi can look to increase benefits from their fishing rights and they can also help improve the management of the country's fisheries resources at the same time.

'People talk about the commercial, customary or recreational sector, but forget Maori customary rights include all three,” says Matiu.

'Unfortunately these interests often appear to be pitted against each other as different fishing sectors argue for priority.”

Matiu says examples of tensions between iwi and hapu about access to fish are exacerbated by the design of the Fisheries Settlement.

'The government didn't intend for these regimes to be in opposition.

'Indeed they ought to support one another because the fisheries are the same.

'The fish do not swim around labelled as commercial, customary or recreational,” says Matiu.

Te Ohu Kaimoana has released a document to promote discussion amongst iwi and hapu on how to encourage greater collaboration in managing their common fishing interests.

'The document proposes that iwi organisations and hapu work together to resolve the tensions they face in managing their fishing interests.

'A key challenge for us is to exercise our customary commercial and non-commercial fishing rights in a balanced and integrated way, within a tribal system that meets our needs in a modern context,” says Matiu.