Fisheries and Aquaculture Minister Phil Heatley informed that the new law will be effective from October 1 and the changes will be made to the Aquaculture Reform (Repeals and Transitional Provisions) Act 2004, the Fisheries Act 1996, the Maori Commercial Aquaculture Claims Settlement Act 2004, and the Resource Management Act 1991. These changes will support the aquaculture industry to fulfil its potential while maintaining essential protections for the environment. It balances aquaculture development with other uses of the coastal space.
He added that aquaculture needs only a small fraction of our coastal space and has the potential to be a $1 billion industry by 2025. He also said that the mian aspect of the new law is the removal of the requirement for Aquaculture Management Areas, or AMAs, to be established before consent applications can be made. The legislation specifically assists aquaculture development in Tasman and Waikato by amending both regional coastal plans to enable applications to farm a wider range of species, including finfish, in areas where aquaculture is already established.
In Waikato, the coastal plan has also been amended to establish the Coromandel Marine Farm Zone. Throughout this process the Government has signalled its commitment to ensuring that the Crown continues to uphold the Maori Commercial Aquaculture Claims Settlement. Heatley said that this new law do not includes a delivery mechanism for the Maori Commercial Aquaculture Claims Settlement.
