Fisheries Minister Phil Heatley has applauded the government’s decision to open 10 new marine farms, giving 3,143 hectares of new marine farming space. The total area of the farm is 2,695 hectare in Pegasus Bay in Canterbury. This will be New Zealand’s second largest marine farm. A 424 hectare marine farm in Clifford Bay on Marlborough’s east coast and 8 small marine farms in the Marlborough Sounds have also been approved. Heatley informed that while these new farms will add to the space available for marine farming they were applied for years ago under the old aquaculture laws.
He added that aquaculture has huge potential for generating sustainable economic growth for New Zealand and is one of the Government’s economic priorities. However, if the aquaculture industry is going to meet its target of becoming a one billion dollar a year industry by 2025, we need to get more space more quickly. Earlier this year the Government appointed the Aquaculture Technical Advisory Group to independently develop options for overhauling the aquaculture regime.
The Advisory Group’s report on options for reform was released for public consultation on 5 November with submissions invited from anyone with an interest in the aquaculture sector.
