Iwi will benefit from measures included in the Supplementary Order Papers to aquaculture legislation as Parliament approved the new laws under urgency yesterday.
Amendments to improve the aquaculture regime have been under discussion among fishing industry participants and the government since 2004 when legislation was passed, paving the way for iwi to receive 20 percent of all new space allocated by regional councils for marine farming. However, there have been difficulties among regional councils and other regulatory bodies in implementing the legislation.
In passing the new laws, Fisheries and Aquaculture Minister Phil Heatley said the 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 said in a statement released by the Government last night.
One of the key aspects of the new law is the removal of the requirement for Aquaculture Management Areas (AMAs) to be established before consent applications are able to be made, putting aquaculture on the same footing as other coastal activities and enabling councils to plan for it in a similar way. Removing the requirement for AMAs means a return to aquaculture development going through consent processes under the Resource Management Act, Mr Heatley says.
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.
Changes to the Bill in the form of Supplementary Order Papers were introduced by the Minister following work between government and Iwi Leaders’ Group and its technical advisory group that included Te Ohu Kaimoana’s Chief Adviser of Fisheries, Laws Lawson; Keir Volkerling from Ngati Wai, and Justine Inns, a partner at Ocean Law in Nelson, since October 2010.
The Supplementary Orders included:
- A mechanism for delivering the Maori Commercial Aquaculture Settlement to Maori through Te Ohu Kaimoana as trustee of Takutai Trust;
- Changes amending the Waikato Regional Coastal Plan to establish a new, 300ha marine farming zone; and
- A mechanism to ensure that the interests of commercial fishing quota owners can be balanced with demands for aquaculture.
Te Ohu Kaimoana Chief Executive Peter Douglas said that an effective mechanism was needed for delivering to iwi their 20 percent share of new aquaculture space under the Maori Commercial Aquaculture Settlement. “An agreed method for delivering 20 percent of new marine farming space approved by regional councils will allow iwi to play their part in building a sustainable and viable aquaculture industry, which is set to reach $1 billion by 2025,” he said.
Mr Douglas said the mechanism for delivering the settlement would be through regional agreements between the Crown and iwi.
To ensure iwi have the ability to take up aquaculture development, the Crown will gazette representative space in four key regions – Northland, Hauraki, Tasman and Marlborough. It will further gazette space in other regions as required. The gazetting will preserve options based on the expected aquaculture growth in those regions in the next five years and for regional agreements to be achieved between the Crown and iwi.
Where regional agreements are not able to be reached between iwi and the Crown, aquaculture space would be delivered to the trustee, the Takutai Trust, which would hold the assets until agreement is reached between iwi, Mr Douglas said.
In response to the proposed mechanism for dealing with the effects of aquaculture on commercial fishers, he added that the proposals in the Supplementary Order Papers represented a reasonable and balanced means of maximising the value of the entire New Zealand seafood sector.
Where it is deemed that aquaculture will deliver materially greater value to New Zealand than commercial fishing in the same area, an independent arbitrator will decide what should be paid to the commercial fisher if the interested parties cannot reach agreement among themselves.
The New Zealand Seafood Industry Council (SeaFIC) raised concerns over the test for balancing commercial fishers and aquaculture enterprises saying it was a major breach of quota owners’ rights and would lead to unnecessary conflict and expense, in particular the inclusion of arbitration. “Arbitration was not supported in the submissions of the major industry organisations and was also rejected by the select committee that examined the legislation,” SeaFIC’s Chief Executive Peter Bodeker said.
The Council added that the most worrying aspect was the “significant and fundamental weakening of quota owners’ rights.”
Te Ohu Kaimoana considers, however, that the changes recognise there are competing interests within the marine environment. It is important that the regime for resolving those competing interests respect existing quota owners’ rights and investment and compensate them for any undue adverse effect as a result of aquaculture. In these circumstances, aquaculture will be allowed because it will provide both compensation and materially greater wealth for New Zealand.
“Iwi have significant investment in both wild fisheries and aquaculture. We consider the proposals that were outlined in the Supplementary Order Papers are appropriate, though care will be needed in the detail of the regulation,” Peter Douglas said. Te Ohu Kaimoana will provide full details of the new law and its implications to Iwi.
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