Aquaculture farms consent extension ‘dodgy’
The Government’s proposal for 25-year extensions to existing aquaculture consents runs roughshod over environmental standards, and could put the export sector at risk, an environmental group says.
Of New Zealand’s 1200 marine farms, 300 have consents that are to expire at the end of the year.
The proposal to extend existing marine farm consent durations by an additional quarter of a century was part of the NZ First and National coalition agreement, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones confirmed. If passed by the end of 2024 as anticipated, those extensions would be automatic and would not require an application. No farms would be excluded, and the renewal would not change or reconsider consent conditions.
The Resource Management Act currently sets a maximum term for aquaculture activities of 35 years. Ministry for Primary Industries director pri mary sector policy Alastair Cameron said the proposal was intended to provide “greater certainty” for industry and the confidence to invest in farm productivity and innovation, such as new technologies and species.
However, Environmental Defence Society chief executive Gary Taylor said the proposal was an “extremely bad idea” and completely unnecessary, as there was already regulation in place that simplified and sped up reconsenting.
The National Environmental Standards for Marine Aquaculture allowed councils to step in if there were issues, to change conditions and to think about whether projects were in the right place or not, he said.
Many farms had undergone only rudimentary assessment since their initial consent prior to the RMA coming into force, and many had “scant and inadequate conditions” attached to them, Taylor said.
In addition, as seen by the deaths of thousands of salmon in the Marlborough Sounds during a marine heatwave in 2022, sites that were previously suitable for marine farming may longer be suitable in the future.
The proposal also was going to render the country’s export sector at risk through non-compliance with free trade agreements, Taylor said.
“We’re not supposed to be reducing environmental standards under our various free trade agreements, but this in effect is doing that.”
Taylor said the Government was “waging war” with the environment, and said that the processes that it was implementing around environmental matters
were “dodgy”, with very short
time frames, with token consultation and engagement. “Running roughshod over environmental standards, and lowering protection, which is explicit in this proposal, is wrong and should be stopped.”
Te Uru Kahika Regional and Unitary Councils’ submission pointed out that a 25- year extension on a recently issued 25-year consent extension, without terms being reviewed, meant authorities wouldn’t be able to assess the specific circumstances of consent holders for a total duration of over 50 years.
Jones has defended the proposal , arguing that the country is in a “parlous” economic situation. The Government was not creating new aquaculture space, and criticism of the proposal was driven by “antigrowth ideology” and “climate hysteria”.
“No-one is going to deploy climate as a weapon to try and guilt trip me from moving away from supporting jobs, industry and fiscal solvency.”
In Te Tauihu, Tasman District Council staff were given just days to respond to the Government’s call for feedback on the proposal. In a committee meeting this month, group manager environmental assurance Kim Drummond said staff had “moved heaven and earth” to meet the Government’s deadline.
The regional sector was looking for a macro response, he said, “because in their minds, this had signals of not covering all the bases and managing all the risks”.
“The sense is that a lot of those consents that are coming up for renewal, some of them are deemed to be in the wrong place, and they're having environmental effects that are not being well managed. So to add 25 years onto that would not necessarily seem in our view to be a good thing to do.”
In the Tasman region, there are 71 active consents within three Aquaculture Management Areas. Outside of those areas, there are eight farms in Wainui Bay producing mussel spat, supplying 60% of spat used in Te Tauihu and 30% nationally.
Spat are very young shellfish, and the raw material of mussel farms.
These consents are due to expire on December 31. In total, 12 of the 71 consents are due to expire in the next five years, including the eight in Wainui Bay.
A submission by council staff noted that the proposal was lacking in detail, and had a consultation period that was too short.
Team leader natural resource consents Leif Pigott wrote that the council considered the suggested extension period to be too long. “The extensions will be legislated for without any substantive community input or assessment of environmental effects,” Pigott said.
However, it was aware of both the importance of the spat sites, and the challenges in reconsenting them, “given the likely opposition they would face”.
Adding 10 years to the permits expiring at the end of the year, and including a review clause, would be a “more elegant solution”, Pigott suggested.