A first but ‘not significant’

The Minister for Conservation has not submitted on a proposal for New Zealand’s first openocean salmon farm because it is not of ‘‘national significance’’, despite others calling it a potential ‘‘game changer’’ for aquaculture.

In deciding not to ‘‘call in’’ on the New Zealand King Salmon application, Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage acknowledged the application was a ‘‘first’’ for the country and covered a ‘‘large’’ area, but said the activity was ‘‘not significant’’ on a national scale.

New Zealand King Salmon wants to set up a farm off Cape Lambert, in Cook Strait, and eventually farm 8000 tonnes of fish a year there, in the colder waters.

It has also applied for 12 other monitoring sites down the east coast of the South Island, from north Marlborough to Stewart Island, in a bid to expand fish farming further into New Zealand’s open waters.

The minister’s decision not to weigh in on the proposal follows the Government’s ‘‘ambitious’’ plans of turning the aquaculture industry into a $3 billion industry by 2035. It is currently worth $600 million.

NZ King Salmon lodged a resource consent with the Marlborough District Council last July asking to build the farm within a 1792-hectare site in the ocean. The company said the farming operation would take up a small fraction of the site, 7 kilometres north of Cape Lambert.

Following the application, four environmental and community groups wrote to Minister Sage, requesting her to weigh in using Section 142 of the Resource Management Act.

‘‘Due to the size, environmental and landscape effects and pioneering nature of the Cape Lambert application, we ask that you as Minister call it in as a matter of national significance,’’ the groups wrote.

They said there was ‘‘precedent’’ for this after National’s Conservation Minister Kate Wilkinson called in on a NZ King Salmon application in 2011, after they requested consent for eight new salmon farms in the Marlborough Sounds.

Wilkinson sent that proposal before an independent Board of Inquiry under the Government’s nationally significant proposal process.

The groups said the Cape Lambert proposal was ‘‘significantly larger’’, occupying more than eight times the coastal area as the former proposal, and potentially discharging twice the amount of fish feed. They called for the scrutiny of a Board of Inquiry or Environment Court, rather than a local council process.

Minister Sage submitted a letter to the application process on December 12 saying she was going to stay out of the process.

In that letter, on the council website, she said the application would have ‘‘visual effects’’ on the environment within an area of ‘‘high coastal natural character’’, but that this did not elevate the proposal to one of national significance. This was also due to its distance offshore.

The application could use technology that would be ‘‘new to New Zealand’’ and while that might be of ‘‘relevance’’, it did not raise it to national significance, Sage said.

In making this decision, she had sought advice from the Environmental Protection Authority and considered the views of NZ King Salmon and Marlborough District Council, including its ability to process the application.

NZ King Salmon chief executive Grant Rosewarne said it was a ‘‘robust decision’’ not to call in, given the Government’s own strategy was to enable open ocean aquaculture to reach its $3b goal. He said this was because of the ‘‘inherent sustainability’’ of open ocean farming.

‘‘The Marlborough District Council is very capable of making the right decision for the environment, the community and our company,’’ Rosewarne said.

Aquaculture New Zealand chief executive Gary Hooper said the proposal was a ‘‘very exciting opportunity’’ in terms of what it could provide for the country.

‘‘If it is a real possibility, it truly will be game-changing across the primary sector in New Zealand,’’ Hooper said.

The minister was approached for comment.