Updates
30 July 2020 – Cabinet decision on recommending the making of national environmental standards for marine aquaculture
Cabinet has recommended the making of the national environmental standards for marine aquaculture (NES: MA). These incorporate an additional policy decision to not proceed with biosecurity management plan requirements for marine farms. The NES: Marine aquaculture will come into force on 1 December 2020.
- Find out more about the NES: Marine aquaculture
- Press release from the Minister for the Environment and the Minister of Fisheries
- Cabinet paper and related information
27 July 2020 – Publication of report and recommendations
The October 2018 and June 2020 reports and recommendations on submissions for the national environmental standards for marine aquaculture are now available.
- Report and recommendations on the submissions and the subject matter of the proposed National Environmental Standard for Marine Aquaculture (June 2020) [PDF, 4.1 MB]
- Report and recommendations on the submissions and the subject matter of the proposed National Environmental Standard for Marine Aquaculture (October 2018) [PDF, 3.9 MB]
July 2019 – Cabinet decision on final policy provisions of the national environmental standard for marine aquaculture
Cabinet has recently approved final policy provisions for the drafting of a national environmental standard for marine aquaculture (NES: Marine aquaculture). Following drafting of the new regulations, the NES: Marine aquaculture will be put in front of Cabinet for a final decision in early 2020.
- View press release from the Minister for the Environment and the Minister of Fisheries
- View Cabinet paper and related information
April 2018 – Submissions available
The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) has released the submissions received from the public and iwi authorities during the consultation, which closed on 8 August 2017.
Have your say
The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) sought your views on the proposed national environmental standard for marine aquaculture (NES: Marine aquaculture). An NES is established under the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) and sets national rules that replace regional council rules.
The proposed NES: Marine aquaculture seeks to:
- provide a more efficient and certain consent process for managing existing marine farms within environmental limits
- implement a nationally-consistent framework for biosecurity management on all marine farms.
Formal consultation began on Wednesday 4 June 2017 and closed at 5pm on Tuesday 8 August 2017. A series of public meetings and hui were held as part of the consultation.
Consultation documents
Discussion documents and background information:
- Discussion document [PDF, 15 MB]
- Discussion document summary and overview of the proposal [PDF, 6.7 MB]
Technical reports that have been used to develop and assess the proposed NES: Marine Aquaculture
| Report | Description |
|---|---|
| Regulatory Impact Statement [PDF, 314 KB] | MPI’s analysis of the proposed NES |
| NZIER preliminary economic analysis [PDF, 818 KB] | An independent assessment of the expected economic costs and benefits of the proposed NES |
| Grouping aquaculture species by their ecological effects [PDF, 1.3 MB] | Technical report prepared by Cawthron Institute which analyses how aquaculture species might be grouped according to similarities in terms of their potential ecological impacts |
| Aquaculture biosecurity handbook [PDF, 7.2 MB] | Handbook prepared by MPI which provides a quick guide for marine farmers to reduce the risks of pests and diseases affecting their farms and the environment |
| Options to strengthen on-farm biosecurity management for commercial and non-commercial aquaculture [PDF, 2.7 MB] | Technical report prepared by MPI which provides more detailed aquaculture biosecurity management options and background information |
| Marine farms in outstanding areas [PDF, 18 MB] | Maps identifying existing marine farms in draft, proposed or operative outstanding areas – visual depiction of Appendix H of the discussion document |
| Offshore marine farms [PDF, 758 KB] | Map identifying offshore marine farms as described in section 5.2 of the discussion document |
| Tasman and Waikato marine farming zones [PDF, 1.7 MB] | Map identifying the Tasman and Waikato marine farming zones excluded from the replacement consenting and change of species provisions of the proposed NES |
Public meetings and hui
MPI held public meetings and hui to provide information, answer questions, and seek feedback on the proposal.
| Date | Public meeting | Hui | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venue | Time | Venue | Time | |
| Monday 19 June |
Coromandel Citizens Hall (Court House Building) |
1pm | ||
| Tuesday 20 June |
Little River Community Hall Western Valley Road Little River |
5pm | ||
| Wednesday 21 June |
Ngāi Tahu Office 15 Show Place Addington Christchurch |
10am | ||
| Tuesday 27 June |
Paihia Pacific Resort Hotel 27 Kings Road Paihia Bay of Islands |
1:30pm |
Paihia Pacific Resort Hotel |
10:30am |
| Senior Citizens Hall 10 Pah Street Motueka |
5pm | |||
| Wednesday 28 June |
Warkworth Town Hall Cnr Neville Street & Alnwick Street Warkworth |
5:30pm | ||
| Friday 30 June | Scenic Hotel Marlborough 65 Alfred Street Blenheim |
1pm | ||
| Thursday 6 July | Eastbay REAP 21 Pyne Street Whakatane |
5:30pm | Eastbay REAP 21 Pyne Street Whakatane |
10am |
| Monday 10 July |
Murihiku Marae |
11am | ||
| Tuesday 18 July | Pohara Hall 870 Abel Tasman Drive Takaka |
5:30pm | ||
| Wednesday 19 July |
Ministry for Primary Industries |
5:30pm | East Pier Hotel 50 Nelson Quay Ahuriri Napier |
10:30am |
| Thursday 20 July |
Ministry for Primary Industries |
5:30pm | ||
| Friday 21 July |
Ministry for Primary Industries |
1pm | ||
| Tuesday 25 July | Ministry for Primary Industries 17 Maurice Wilson Avenue Auckland Airport Auckland 2022 |
12:30pm | ||
| Wednesday 26 July |
Invercargill Working Men's Club |
12:30pm | ||
Making your submission
Submissions could be made by emailing feedback on the consultation document by 5pm, Tuesday 8 August 2017 to aquaculture@mpi.govt.nz
A submission template was made available to download to help with the development of submissions.
- Download the submission template [DOCX, 88 KB]
Anyone could make a submission on the subject matter of the proposed NES. The following information was required in submissions:
- your name and postal address, phone number, and email address (where applicable)
- the part or parts of the proposed NES you are submitting on
- whether you support or oppose the part or parts of the proposed NES
- your submissions, with reasons for your views
- any changes you would like made to the proposed NES
- the decision you wish the Minister for the Environment and the Minister for Primary Industries to make.
Submissions could also be posted to:
Aquaculture Unit
Ministry for Primary Industries
Private Bag 14
Port Nelson 7042
New Zealand.
Submissions are public information
Any submission you make becomes public information. Anyone can ask for copies of all submissions under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA). The OIA says we must make the information available unless we have a good reason for withholding it. You can find those grounds in sections 6 and 9 of the OIA. Tell us if you think there are grounds to withhold specific information in your submission. Reasons might include, it's commercially sensitive or it's personal information. However, any decision MPI makes to withhold information can be reviewed by the Ombudsman, who may require the information be released.
