The Marlborough Sounds Salmon Working Group’s first meeting was held last week to start looking at options to implement the Best Management Practice Guidelines for Salmon farming in the Marlborough Sounds (the guidelines).
This group includes representation from the Marlborough District Council, Ministry for Primary Industries, key community and interest groups, iwi, marine farming interests, and New Zealand King Salmon.
Ministry for Primary Industries Deputy Director General Ben Dalton said it was great to have such a wide range of stakeholders in attendance to discuss the important work ahead.
"We had a great scene setting discussion at our first meeting. That helped us better understand the current situation and the challenges some existing farms are facing," said Mr Dalton.
The meeting allowed members to begin sharing their ideas on ways existing salmon farms could overcome the challenges to ensure compliance with the guidelines.
"Our aim is to achieve long-term sustainability of salmon farming by focusing on reaching good environmental, social, economic and cultural outcomes."
The working group will continue to work towards developing options which will be presented to the community for feedback later this year.
The next working group meeting will be held on Thursday, 21 July.