The Maori Development Minister says a proposed law change could provoke protest matching the scale of the foreshore and seabed controversy

The Government is restoring the threshold for Maori customary claims over coastal areas, by tightening criteria the Court of Appeal had lowered.

Crown attempts to take ownership of the foreshore and seabed in 2004 triggered the largest hikoi in a generation.

Minister Tama Potaka says he doesn't know what reaction will be to this amendment - but the law needs clarity.

He says the Government is clear on how it says things - and he's excited people have been asserting mana moana - their authority over the water.