Swimmers, boaties maymuscle outmussel farms

Plans to free up prime swimming spots in the Marlborough Sounds could force mussel farms further from shore.

Marine farmers will need to leave another swimming pool’s worth of space between their farms and the shoreline under the region’s new aquaculture rules, in what one report estimates will cost up to $3000 a farm. The change is one of several proposed under the region’s new aquaculture chapter, released in November, almost a year after the rest of the Marlborough District Council’s new environment plan was published.

Most of the 590 marine farms in the Marlborough Sounds are located between 50 metres and 200m of the shoreline in what is referred to as the ‘‘coastal ribbon’’. The new chapter suggested widening the ribbon, moving it further from shore, and dividing it into ‘‘aquaculture management areas’’ where marine farming was legal. Farms outside these aquaculture management areas would be deemed ‘‘inappropriate’’, aside from those in the ocean, meaning their could not be renewed.

To become compliant, farmers would need to move mussel lines or entire farms into a management area, or ask for a management area to be created around them. The idea was to improve public access to the coast by making mussel farms move further out to sea and spread their lines further apart, creating more space.

Marine Farming Association president Jon Large said communities wanted to drive their boats near beaches. ‘‘It is really costly to shift a marine farm as it involves a lot of vessel time, [and] there are only a few vessels with the capacity to shift the farms. It licence is not an easy task.’’ A report estimated it would cost $1500-$3000 a farm to meet the rules or up to $1.8 million in total.

Large said most farms were within a management area and just needed to move their inside lines to the outside. ‘‘Themanagement areas are quite good as they give both the industry and the community certainty about where aquaculture is going to occur and where it is not.’’

The changes were expected to reduce reconsenting costs by 43 per cent, saving the industry almost $18m.

An assessment by the Cawthron Institute ruled deeper waters could also result in fewer environmental issues.