Tasman Supports Aquaculture Law Changes

Thursday 11 November 2010

Tasman Mayor, Richard Kempthorne today welcomed the introduction of the Aquaculture Legislation Amendment Bill, which the Government hopes will boost the aquaculture industry’s growth opportunities in New Zealand.

Mayor Kempthorne acknowledged the law changes overall should be good nationally but he was cautious to note that for some sites in Tasman, the Council still has to await the outcome of current legal proceedings that have been going on for the last 13 years. 

“The law changes do not dispense with the current legal proceedings Council is involved in and they have to be concluded as if the law has not been changed.  The Council wants these legal proceedings completed quickly but that has not been the experience to date.  We will also need to await the outcome of discussions between iwi and prospective marine farmers in order to meet obligations under the Maori Commercial Aquaculture Claim Settlement Act 2004”.

“The good news is that once we get past the current proceedings, the law does make some further changes to the Tasman Resource Management Plan which will allow for a wider range of species to be farmed within the areas that have been made available for application through a rather long and convoluted planning process.”

The law change retains the aquaculture management areas for Tasman, and the exclusion of aquaculture outside those areas, he said.

Mayor Kempthorne said there are one or two provisions in the Bill that will cause some debate around the Council table but he was happy that the Government had moved to replace the 2004 law changes which had not seen any new aquaculture space created.  

Information about the Ministry of Fisheries Aquaculture Reform