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Proposed national environmental standard for marine aquaculture

Updates

30 July 2020 – Cabinet decision on recommending the making of national environmental standards for marine aquaculture

Cabinet has recommended the making of the national environmental standards for marine aquaculture (NES: MA). These incorporate an additional policy decision to not proceed with biosecurity management plan requirements for marine farms. The NES: Marine aquaculture will come into force on 1 December 2020.

27 July 2020 – Publication of report and recommendations

The October 2018 and June 2020 reports and recommendations on submissions for the national environmental standards for marine aquaculture are now available.

July 2019 – Cabinet decision on final policy provisions of the national environmental standard for marine aquaculture

Cabinet has recently approved final policy provisions for the drafting of a national environmental standard for marine aquaculture (NES: Marine aquaculture). Following drafting of the new regulations, the NES: Marine aquaculture will be put in front of Cabinet for a final decision in early 2020.

April 2018 – Submissions available

The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) has released the submissions received from the public and iwi authorities during the consultation, which closed on 8 August 2017.

Have your say

The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) sought your views on the proposed national environmental standard for marine aquaculture (NES: Marine aquaculture). An NES is established under the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) and sets national rules that replace regional council rules.

The proposed NES: Marine aquaculture seeks to:

  • provide a more efficient and certain consent process for managing existing marine farms within environmental limits
  • implement a nationally-consistent framework for biosecurity management on all marine farms.

Formal consultation began on Wednesday 4 June 2017 and closed at 5pm on Tuesday 8 August 2017. A series of public meetings and hui were held as part of the consultation.

Consultation documents

Discussion documents and background information:

Technical reports that have been used to develop and assess the proposed NES: Marine Aquaculture

ReportDescription
Regulatory Impact Statement [PDF, 314 KB] MPI’s analysis of the proposed NES
NZIER preliminary economic analysis [PDF, 818 KB] An independent assessment of the expected economic costs and benefits of the proposed NES
Grouping aquaculture species by their ecological effects [PDF, 1.3 MB] Technical report prepared by Cawthron Institute which analyses how aquaculture species might be grouped according to similarities in terms of their potential ecological impacts
Aquaculture biosecurity handbook [PDF, 7.2 MB] Handbook prepared by MPI which provides a quick guide for marine farmers to reduce the risks of pests and diseases affecting their farms and the environment
Options to strengthen on-farm biosecurity management for commercial and non-commercial aquaculture [PDF, 2.7 MB] Technical report prepared by MPI which provides more detailed aquaculture biosecurity management options and background information
Marine farms in outstanding areas [PDF, 18 MB] Maps identifying existing marine farms in draft, proposed or operative outstanding areas – visual depiction of Appendix H of the discussion document
Offshore marine farms [PDF, 758 KB] Map identifying offshore marine farms as described in section 5.2 of the discussion document
Tasman and Waikato marine farming zones [PDF, 1.7 MB] Map identifying the Tasman and Waikato marine farming zones excluded from the replacement consenting and change of species provisions of the proposed NES

Public meetings and hui

MPI held public meetings and hui to provide information, answer questions, and seek feedback on the proposal.

DatePublic meetingHui
VenueTimeVenueTime
Monday 19 June

Coromandel Citizens Hall (Court House Building)
355 Kapanga Road
Coromandel Town

1pm    
Tuesday 20 June

Little River Community Hall
Western Valley Road
Little River
5pm    
Wednesday 21 June

    Ngāi Tahu Office
15 Show Place
Addington
Christchurch
10am
Tuesday 27 June


Paihia Pacific Resort Hotel
27 Kings Road
Paihia
Bay of Islands

1:30pm

Paihia Pacific Resort Hotel
27 Kings Road
Paihia
Bay of Islands

10:30am
Senior Citizens Hall
10 Pah Street
Motueka
5pm    
Wednesday 28 June

Warkworth Town Hall
Cnr Neville Street & Alnwick Street
Warkworth
5:30pm    
Friday 30 June Scenic Hotel Marlborough
65 Alfred Street
Blenheim
1pm    
Thursday 6 July Eastbay REAP
21 Pyne Street
Whakatane
5:30pm Eastbay REAP
21 Pyne Street
Whakatane
10am
Monday 10 July    

Murihiku Marae
408 Tramway Road
Invercargill

11am
Tuesday 18 July Pohara Hall
870 Abel Tasman Drive
Takaka
5:30pm    
Wednesday 19 July

Ministry for Primary Industries
25 The Terrace
Wellington

5:30pm East Pier Hotel
50 Nelson Quay
Ahuriri
Napier
10:30am
Thursday 20 July

Ministry for Primary Industries
118 Vickerman Street
Nelson

5:30pm    
Friday 21 July    

Ministry for Primary Industries
118 Vickerman Street
Nelson

1pm
Tuesday 25 July     Ministry for Primary Industries
17 Maurice Wilson Avenue
Auckland Airport
Auckland 2022
12:30pm
Wednesday 26 July

Invercargill Working Men's Club
154 Esk Street
Invercargill

12:30pm    

Making your submission

Submissions could be made by emailing feedback on the consultation document by 5pm, Tuesday 8 August 2017 to aquaculture@mpi.govt.nz

A submission template was made available to download to help with the development of submissions.

Anyone could make a submission on the subject matter of the proposed NES. The following information was required in submissions:

  • your name and postal address, phone number, and email address (where applicable)
  • the part or parts of the proposed NES you are submitting on
  • whether you support or oppose the part or parts of the proposed NES
  • your submissions, with reasons for your views
  • any changes you would like made to the proposed NES
  • the decision you wish the Minister for the Environment and the Minister for Primary Industries to make.

Submissions could also be posted to:

Aquaculture Unit
Ministry for Primary Industries
Private Bag 14
Port Nelson 7042
New Zealand.

Submissions are public information

Any submission you make becomes public information. Anyone can ask for copies of all submissions under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA). The OIA says we must make the information available unless we have a good reason for withholding it. You can find those grounds in sections 6 and 9 of the OIA. Tell us if you think there are grounds to withhold specific information in your submission. Reasons might include, it's commercially sensitive or it's personal information. However, any decision MPI makes to withhold information can be reviewed by the Ombudsman, who may require the information be released.