Apply for an Antarctic Marine Living Resources (AMLR) permit

The process

To fish in the Convention Area, New Zealand fishing vessels must have both:

• a high seas fishing permit
• an AMLR permit approved by the Minister of Oceans and Fisheries.

To get an AMLR permit, you need to:

• submit an expression of interest (EOI) to fish in the Convention Area to MPI
• submit an AMLR permit application and vessel information
• pay a notification fee to the CCAMLR Secretariat
• be approved by CCAMLR at their annual meeting
• be approved by the Minister of Oceans and Fisheries and receive an AMLR permit.

Getting an AMLR permit

1. Prepare your expression of interest

Expressions of interest (EOIs) to fish in the CCAMLR Convention Area for the 2025–26 season closed at 5pm on 7 March 2025. If you have any questions, email amlr@mpi.govt.nz

When you submit an EOI, include:

• your name or the name of your company
• the CCAMLR sub-areas of interest
• what species you will be targeting
• the fishing methods you'll use
• the name of any vessels you'll use.

Send your EOI (before the due date) to amlr@mpi.govt.nz

We'll assess your EOI. If it's suitable, we'll ask you to submit a formal AMLR permit application.

2. Submit an AMLR permit application

We'll tell you:

• what your application needs to include
• the due date (usually early April).

Email a copy of your application to amlr@mpi.govt.nz

We'll contact successful applicants in May.

MPI will lodge all official vessel notifications with the CCAMLR Secretariat in May.

3. Pay the notification fee if you're successful

If successful and your vessel is officially notified, you'll have to pay a notification fee to the CCAMLR Secretariat. The CCAMLR Secretariat will invoice you a notification fee. There is a cost for each:

• vessel
• new/exploratory toothfish fishery
• research plan.

For example, if you are using 3 vessels in 2 fisheries, you would need to pay 6 times the notification fee.

You must pay the notification fee to the CCAMLR Secretariat by 1 July. If you don't, your vessel notification won't get approved.

4. Receive your AMLR permit

After you've paid the notification fee and CCAMLR has approved your vessel notification, MPI will draft an AMLR permit for the Minister of Oceans and Fisheries to approve.

We'll base the conditions of the permit on:

• CCAMLR's conservation measures
• New Zealand's legal requirements.

If approved, you'll get your permit in late November. Every vessel must have an approved AMLR permit on board at all times when fishing in the Convention Area.

New Zealanders wanting to take marine life for research on the Antarctic continent or from the Southern Ocean must have both:

• approval from the Minister of Foreign Affairs to do research
• an AMLR permit approved by the Minister of Oceans and Fisheries.

The Antarctica New Zealand website has information on how to get approval from the Minister of Foreign Affairs by applying for logistical support.

Logistics support request – Antarctica New Zealand

How to get your AMLR permit from MPI

Your application for an AMLR permit must include information consistent with Antarctica New Zealand’s approved science events. This includes:

• the event manager's full name, address, email, and phone numbers
• the event number assigned by Antarctica New Zealand
• what dates you need the permit for (include duration of the trip)
• a complete list of the marine organism(s) by weight and/or number – alive or dead – that you plan to take
• full details of or a copy of the completed Environment Impact Assessment information you're submitting to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

 At least 16 weeks before you plan to go, email a copy of your application to amlr@mpi.govt.nz

What happens next

We'll assess your application for a permit. We'll let you know if we need extra information.

If the AMLR permit is approved by the Minister of Oceans and Fisheries, you'll be notified and provided with your AMLR research permit.