Aquaculture
Changes in aquaculture policy and legislation: overview 2002 – 2010
Aquaculture legislation was heavily reformed in late 2004. However, the regulatory regime this established has failed to deliver to the Government’s expectations. Since early 2009 the Government has announced that aquaculture legislation will again be reviewed. This section provides an update on progress with this review and its effects upon the ARC’s aquaculture planning process, and covers:
- The 2004 aquaculture law reforms
- What happened to the 2002 Variations?
- The proposed 2008 ARC aquaculture policy direction and preliminary consultation
- The outcomes of the 2008 preliminary consultation round
- Preparation for pre-notification consultation (September – December 2008)
- The new government and new direction (December 2008 – February 2009)
- The revised aquaculture project work-streams and timelines (May 2009)
- The Aquaculture Technical Advisory Group Report (November 2009)
The 2004 Aquaculture Legislation
On 1 January 2005, the Government’s changes to how aquaculture is managed in New Zealand came into force. The stated purpose of the reforms was to enable the sustainable growth of aquaculture and to ensure that cumulative environmental effects are properly managed while not undermining the fisheries regime or Treaty of Waitangi settlements.
They key outcomes of this legislation reform were:
- All aquaculture to be managed by regional councils under the Resource Management Act (RMA)
- Aquaculture can only be established in special zones within regional coastal plans called ‘Aquaculture Management Areas (AMAs)' and requires a coastal permit
- AMAs can only be established by changes to regional coastal plans
- A new plan change process, specific to AMA development, by Invited Private Plan Changes (IPPC) for areas outside any declared Excluded Areas
- Proposed AMAs must pass the ‘undue adverse effects' test on fisheries by the Ministry of Fisheries
- Establishment of a process for the equivalent of 20% of all aquaculture space created since 22 September 1992 to be passed to Maori as part of Treaty of Waitangi fisheries grievance resolution.
What happened to the 2002 Variations?
In response to a large number of marine farming and spat catching applications received in 1999 – 2001, and to develop a more strategic approach to aquaculture management, the ARC in October 2002 publicly notified proposed Variations 2 – 6 to the Auckland Regions Plan: Coastal (ARP:C).
Variation 2 proposed objectives, policies and rules for aquaculture. Variations 3 – 6 applied to identified sections of the region’s coastal marine area and proposed AMAs over all existing farms, as well as proposing some new AMA space.
Over 1300 submissions were received. At the time the ARC was also investigating a possible AMA in the Western Firth of Thames with a view to notifying a further variation covering this. However this was overtaken the enactment of the 2004 aquaculture legislation and the western Firth of Thames Variation was not notified.
Hearing of submissions to the Variations was initially placed on hold pending passage of the Foreshore and Seabed Act and the aquaculture reforms to the Resource Management Act, and to allow the investigative works in the western Firth of Thames to reach a comparable stage. Later, hearings remained on hold while the ARC reconsidered its planning approach to aquaculture in light of the 2004 reformed aquaculture legislation.
Variation 3, which proposed AMAs in the southern Kaipara Harbour, was formally withdrawn in May 2006 due to concerns over the sustainability of marine farming in those locations.
In November 2006, the ARC resolved to take no further action on Variations 2, 4, 5 and 6 while an alternative regional aquaculture policy framework to implement the reformed aquaculture legislation was developed. It was anticipated that these remaining Variations would later be formally withdrawn at the same time that a replacement policy framework was publicly notified. This expectation remains in place, however, as explained further below, development of a replacement policy framework has it self been put on hold pending completion of the Government’s 2009/10 revision of aquaculture legislation.
Follow this link if you would like to read the existing variations and background reports.
The Proposed 2008 ARC Policy Direction and Preliminary Consultation
In March 2008 the ARC produced a set of aquaculture policy directions and identified indicative excluded areas, These applied provisions of the 2004 aquaculture law reform. The ARC resolved to commence targeted preliminary consultation on these as the initial phase of developing a revised regional aquaculture policy framework. The policy position adopted a precautionary approach to the assessment of requests for new AMA space. This recognised uncertainties and gaps in our knowledge about aquaculture and its potential adverse environmental effects, particularly given the increasing demands for use of the region's coastal marine area.
To see the ARC’s press release and excluded areas map click on these PDFs.
Preliminary consultation between May and December 2008 took into account:
- IPPC and Excluded Areas: The 2004 aquaculture reforms introduced an Invited Private Plan Change (IPPC) process that allowed the ARC to issue invitations for private plan change requests to establish new AMAs. IPPC provided councils with the ability to invite request for private plan changes in areas that were not excluded for aquaculture.
The excluded areas allowed the ARC to designate areas in the coastal marine area where invitations for IPPCs could not be issued. Conventional Private Plan Changes (PPC) could still be lodged within excluded areas. The ARC proposed a strong ‘policy barrier’ in response to the potential for PPCs to establish large AMAs inside of excluded areas. Possible exceptions (favoured outcomes) to this general position were also developed along with a three tiered assessment hierarchy. - Three Tiered Hierarchy of Assessment: The proposed hierarchy aimed to provide strong guidance on what aquaculture activities would be appropriate inside and outside of excluded areas.
- Tier 1: Identify “Avoidance Areas”, such as prohibited anchorage areas, where AMA requests would almost certainly be rejected at an early stage of assessment.
- Tier 2: Non-invitation areas (excluded areas) - apply a “policy barrier” to PPCs inside non-invitation areas, other than to favoured aquaculture outcomes,
- Tier 3: Establish detailed information & assessment criteria for all AMA requests (IPPC & PPC) to ensure that potential effects upon important social, cultural, economic and environmental matters are thoroughly assessed.
- Favoured Aquaculture Outcomes (exceptions to the general position on large new inshore AMAs) tailored to accommodate:
- Small scale farms
- Managed expansion of existing marine farms
- Innovation and new technology
- Experimental farms
- Iwi specific small scale commercial marine farms
- Customary (non- commercial) marine farms
To see an example of a consultation presentation, click on this PDF
The Outcomes of the 2008 Preliminary Consultation Round
The result of targeted preliminary consultation was generally one of strong support for the ARC’s aquaculture policy direction from communities and community groups, but concerns and/or opposition was voiced by industry, some iwi and some government departments. The range of responses included:
- Community, recreational, and environmental groups were opposed to large inshore aquaculture developments and some expressed a desire for stricter controls that would effectively prohibit any large scale inshore aquaculture development.
- The aquaculture industry, some iwi and government departments considered that the ARC’s approach would limit aquaculture development and that the proposed use of large excluded areas clearly signalled that aquaculture in the Auckland region would be severely restricted. However there was support from these sectors in the promotion of innovation for new and conventional species and also for the proposed “Expressions of Interest” EOI process for resolving competing AMA applications.
- As a way forward, the industry suggested that the ARC should establish a regional aquaculture forum where all stakeholders would have the opportunity to voice their concerns and where the forum process would seek a resolution in areas of differing opinion or identify difficult issues where parties agreed to disagree.
- Some iwi had reservations that the ARC’s approach would restrict them from accessing their traditional fishing sites and prevent them from exercising mana moana (authority and right over traditional areas of the coastal marine area). Most iwi considered that the private plan change approach combined with the subsequent consenting process would effectively rule them out from participating in aquaculture development because of the high costs attached.
- There was general support for the ARC’s proposed “favoured aquaculture outcomes” within excluded areas. Government departments saw potential in these to facilitate development of aquaculture within the excluded areas, and along with iwi and industry, showed interest in how these could be further developed.
Preparation for pre-notification consultation (September – December 2008)
Following preliminary consultation, and approval by the Regional Strategy and Planning Committee in September 2008, the ARC continued to work on a draft ‘issues and options’ discussion document to be used to assist the regional aquaculture forum process and for wider pre-notification consultation.
The forum and wider pre-notification consultation timelines were reviewed and approved by Council in September 2008 and were due to commence in October 2008 and continue to April 2009. This timeline was later modified to accommodate additional advice from Council members regarding the size and administration of the Forum. The new timeline was then set for February to July 2010. Several other work streams including constraints mapping and economic analysis would also be undertaken alongside the consultation and forum processes.
New Government and new direction (Dec 2008 – Feb 2009)
In December 2008, the Minister for the Environment announced that the Resource Management Act would be undergoing a two phase review. This was later confirmed in February 2009 when the Government indicated that the current aquaculture legislation, which underpinned the ARC’s proposed policy direction, would be reviewed as part of the Phase Two process.
Prior to the General Election of 2008 an independent report by LECG was commissioned by the Chief Executives Forum (central government departments) to investigate and make recommendations on the aquaculture regulatory regime. The report was presented to the Forum in April 2009. It recommended significant changes such as removal of aquaculture from RMA control and the development of stand-alone aquaculture legislation, the removal of AMAs, introducing property rights under marine farming leases, and creating a Ministerial appointed body for the allocation of coastal marine area space to aquaculture. This early advice was later superseded by a Technical Advisory Group process (see below).
Revised Aquaculture Project Work-streams and Timelines (May 2009)
The anticipated significant changes to aquaculture legislation had serious implications for the previously proposed notification of a replacement regional aquaculture policy framework. Consequently, the ARC resolved in May 2009:
- That policy development work on aquaculture be set aside until the outcome of legislative reforms are known. In the interim, the aquaculture project shall focus on information gathering, such as Geographical Information Systems (GIS) constraints mapping, consideration of RMA Part 2 matters, economic impact assessment, and cost benefit analysis.
- That the Regional Strategy and Planning Committee notes that a review is underway of conditions and resolution of off-site farm issues relevant to deemed coastal permits for existing marine farms and the Committee supports its completion as a matter of urgency..
Revised work streams are described in more detail below:
Updating constraints mapping
This area of work aims to improve our understanding of the spatial extent and in some cases different levels of significance of the many social, cultural, economic and environmental uses and the values within Auckland’s coastal marine area. It updates and builds on the earlier 2002 constraints mapping exercise that supported Variations 2-6 to the ARP:C.
The intention is that this work will help to provide an improved geospatial resource inventory for the coast that will not only inform the future development of policy in relation to aquaculture, but will also be useful for other areas of coastal management.
Economic Analysis
Two economic analyses reports have now been completed and can be located on the ARC’s website. They will assist the ARC in clarifying the economic, environmental, social and cultural impacts of indicative aquaculture development in the Auckland region. The two reports are:
- Aquaculture: Economic Impact in the Auckland Region (TR2010/009): provides a quantitative economic impact assessment (EIA) of the economic contribution aquaculture may bring to the region. It follows the spending path of aquaculture through the regional community, measures the collective effects of that spending and estimates the economic consequences for the regional economy. The work provides detailed economic information but does not assess other social, cultural or environmental impacts.
The report identifies a gap in information on the economic contribution of aquaculture in the region as little was known about the combined economic effect of harvesting and processing and the economic effects of expansion in the sector. This is the first attempt to integrate both aquaculture farming and processing, and measure their combined impact at a regional level for Auckland using data from aquaculture farmers and processors, in conjunction with data from the national aquaculture industry body and secondary data sources.
Based on 2004 dollar values, the study showed that Aquaculture contributed an estimated $72 million of output to Auckland’s economy. This equated with $28.2 million of value added or gross regional product (GRP), or 0.06 percent of Auckland’s total regional GRP. The relatively small contribution to GRP is comprised of aquaculture farming impacts (approximately 20 percent of total) and aquaculture processing impacts (approximately 80 percent of GDP impact). Thus, for the region, aquaculture processing is highly significant. The processing facilities are not just important for the Auckland region, but also for adjoining regions’ harvests. - Aquaculture Quadruple Bottom Line Assessment: Multi Criteria Analysis for the Auckland Region (TR2010/008): provides a qualitative assessment of factors that the EIA does not address. The Multi Criteria Analysis (MCA) ranks indicators under social, economic, environment, and cultural groupings using an expert workshop process and displays results to allow a comparison between the relative pros and cons of different scenarios. The report considers the potential social, economic, environmental and cultural effects (quadruple bottom line) of three indicative aquaculture scenarios.
Scenario 1 was the ‘status quo’ and only included existing farms; scenario 2 envisaged comparatively conservative regional expansion in aquaculture activity using familiar species, technology and locations; and scenario 3 envisaged larger expansion, more innovation, and experimental development. Rigorous application of a qualitative multi-criteria analysis process was used to broadly assess the possible effects of each scenario. Levels of confidence were also applied to the assigned rankings and sensitivity analyses were carried out to ensure that the report’s conclusions were robust.
In summary the report indicates that scenario 1 carried low uncertainty and risk but also provided almost no social and economic opportunities. Scenario 2 provided some increased economic opportunity but this came at a cost of increased uncertainty and risk, predominantly of adverse social and environmental effects. Scenario 3 provided the greatest economic opportunities (including those for Maori) but also carried the greatest uncertainty of outcome and greatest risks of adverse social and environmental effects.
Review of consent conditions
The ARC is continuing work reviewing conditions on all deemed coastal consents for existing marine farming operations. It is also continuing work to resolve any offsite farm issues. These matters are both related to transitional provisions created by the 2004 aquaculture law reform.
Aquaculture Technical Advisory Group Report (Nov 2009)
In July 2009 the Minister for the Environment and the Minister of Fisheries announced that they would obtain further advice on possible legislative changes and appointed a Technical Advisory Group (TAG) to provide recommendations on how to “kick start” the sustained development of aquaculture. In November 2009 the TAG reported back to the Minister with recommendations that included:
- Aquaculture planning remain within an RMA context
- A greater role for central government, including an aquaculture portfolio assigned to a Minister, power to insert provisions directly into regional coastal plans, development of a national aquaculture strategy, of a national environmental standard and strengthening aquaculture provisions within the New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement.
- Establishing a contestable fund to promote aquaculture planning funded through a levy on existing farms.
- Changes to aquaculture resource consenting to increase security of tenure and to promote investment, such as a default minimum 20 year term.
- The removal of statutory prohibitions on aquaculture outside of AMAs (along with removal of AMAs, IPPC and excluded areas) and their replacement with a more flexible approach to planning through optional zoning for aquaculture..
The Government carried out targeted consultation and sought submissions on the TAG report. The outcome of this process will feed into drafting of an Aquaculture Bill that might be released for submission by mid 2010.
This process strongly indicates that significant changes to existing aquaculture legislation are imminent.
If you wish to view the TAG report and the ARC’s submission click on these PDFs
Page last updated on 30 March 2010.
Enquiries
For enquiries or further information on the ARC aquaculture project please contact:
Anaru Vercoe
Aquaculture Project Leader
Phone: 09 366 2000 extension: 8625
Email: anaru.vercoe@arc.govt.nz
