Details of the Maori Commercial Aquaculture Claims Settlement

Details Of The Maori Commercial Aquaculture Claims Settlement
What was the aquaculture permit moratorium?
The Government decided to stop receiving any new marine farm
applications until it had worked out a better way of dealing with
aquaculture development. It did this by imposing a moratorium on
new permit applications from 28 November 2001. The moratorium
ended on 31 December 2004 - the day before the new aquaculture
reforms took effect.
The government and local councils are still working their way through
nearly 200 permit applications for marine farms that did not get
‘notified’ by councils before the aquaculture moratorium came into
effect in November 2001. These must still be processed under the old
(pre-moratorium) legislation.
What do the Changes do?
The changes aim to balance four things:
• economic development
• looking after the environment
• settling the Crown’s Treaty obligations to Maori
• responding to community concerns
The Resource Management Act now requires all marine farming in the
coastal marine area (within 12 nautical miles of the coast) to take place
in Aquaculture Management Areas, set up by regional councils or
unitary authorities¹. These AMAs must be designated in the council’s
Regional Coastal Plan.
How does it work now?
An Aquaculture Management Area can either be proposed by a council,
through a Council-initiated Plan Change, or by a private individual or
group through a Private Plan Change (in which case the costs are met
by the initiators).