Marine farm permit extensions ‘reckless’

A “bottleneck” of aquaculture consent renewals does not exist in Marlborough, says its council, criticising a proposal to give all marine farm permits an extra 25 years.

The proposal, a coalition agreement between National and NZ First, would extend all existing marine farms with a legislative change to the Resource Management Act, if passed likely later this year.

Minister for Oceans and Fisheries Shane Jones said it would give certainty to the industry, encourage investment and reduce bottlenecks of consent renewal applications. Of New Zealand’s 1200 marine farms, 300 had consents due to expire at the end of the year.

However the Marlborough District Council, in a submission criticising the proposal, said of the region’s 324 marine farms with consents set to expire in December, 223 had already been renewed. Of the 101 remaining, 84 were partly or wholly owned by Sanford, which was now actively lodging applications. “A bottleneck of applications does not exist in Marlborough, through proactive engagement with the marine farming industry,” the submission said.

The council had been working hard to strike “the right balance” between a thriving marine farming industry and protecting sensitive coastal areas, the submission said, outlining the council’s dedicated reconsenting work over the past eight years.

The council was also creating Aquaculture Management Areas (AMAs), zones identified as suitable for marine farming, to speed up consents.

Kaikōura MP, National’s Stuart Smith, in response to questions about the proposal, told Stuff he supported AMAs as “common sense”.

Environmental Defence Society chief executive Gary Taylor said many farms consented before the Resource Management Act in 1991 had only rudimentary assessment since, and had “scant and inadequate conditions”.

As seen by the deaths of thousands of salmon in the Marlborough Sounds during marine heatwaves, sites that were once suitable could become unsuitable in the future, Taylor said.

Trevor Offen wrote a joint submission representing the Guardians of the Sounds, and the residents’ associations of Kenepuru and Central Sounds, and Clova Bay. It said the proposal was “reckless, short-sighted and irresponsible”.

“There is no mandate to sacrifice tomorrow for today.”

Some substandard fish farms with very old permits were unable to be used because they had “completely polluted the sea floor”, he told

Older consents, even in low-flush, shallow, sheltered sites, did not require the monitoring of environmental or ecosystem impacts. The proposal would grant the oldest consents a further 25 years of the same conditions.

“To allow this to continue would be knocking biodiversity out of these areas.”

There were still issues to sort before Marlborough’s new marine permit system went live, Offen said. Appeals had been lodged in relation to 49 shellfish farms and nine salmon farms in Marlborough, some in water less than 8m deep. Others needed adjustment to address navigation, ecological and other issues.

Ministry for Primary Industries primary sector director Alistair Cameron said only national environmental organisations, iwi, regional councils and industry were invited for consultation. Public input would be invited after a bill went to Parliament, likely later this year, he said.

STUFF Mussels are harvested at a mussel farm in the Marlborough Sounds.