Infrastructure, development and primary sector national direction

The aquaculture sector contributes $763 million annually to Aotearoa New Zealand’s economy, employing 3,300 people across New Zealand⁶.  The sector has significant potential to contribute to the Government’s export growth goals, and the Government has made a commitment to support growing and future-proofing the sector.

Marine aquaculture is primarily managed by the RMA and associated national direction such as the New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement (NZCPS) and the Resource Management (National Environmental Standards for Marine Aquaculture) Regulations 2020 (NES-MA). The NES-MA came into effect in 2020 with the intent of providing more consistent and certain rules for replacing coastal permits (reconsenting).

In 2023, a review of the NES-MA⁷  found that although the regulations were effective and had met their objectives, some improvements could be made. The proposed changes to the NES-MA respond to several issues identified by the review and targeted engagement in 2024. These changes will support the Government’s objectives to support the aquaculture industry to grow and develop, and to improve regulatory quality in the resource management system, while upholding Treaty of Waitangi settlements and other related arrangements.

^{6 Ministry for Primary Industries. 2024. New Zealand Aquaculture Development Plan: 2025–2030.}

^{7 Fisheries New Zealand. 2023. Report on the Year Three Review of the National Environmental Standards for Marine Aquaculture. Technical Paper No. 2023/02. Prepared for the Minister for the Environment and the Minister for Oceans and Fisheries by Fisheries New Zealand.}

The NES-MA review and subsequent engagement found that consent processes are often disproportionate to the effects of activities, including that:

• the NES-MA contains unnecessary restrictions at reconsenting
• it is overly difficult to change consent conditions
• getting consents for research and trials is too hard and taking too long.

Marine farmers cannot apply to change their farm structures at the time of reconsenting, unless they are also changing the species that they are farming at the time⁸.

Marine farmers are currently prohibited from adding spat ⁹ catching to their farms during reconsenting. Our analysis showed no clear rationale for this prohibition. Although the industry mainly relies on wild-caught spat, alternative methods of catching spat are important. Currently, if marine farmers want to add spat catching, they need to apply to change consent conditions or obtain a new resource consent, both of which can be costly and inefficient.

Only marine farms consented before the NES-MA came into force in 2020 are permitted to use the NES-MA to apply for a replacement consent that includes a change to species and structures¹⁰. This is an unnecessary and arbitrary barrier to more recently consented aquaculture farms.

^{8 Regulations 26, 29, 32 and 35 of the NES-MA.}

^{9 In regard to the NES-MA, spat are juvenile shellfish. They can include other species in other legislation.}

^{10 Regulation 25(1) of the NES-MA.}

Section 127 of the RMA allows consent holders to apply to change consent conditions during the lifetime of the consent. The process for this can be costly and time-consuming, and councils have wide discretion in considering these applications. The aquaculture industry has told us this requirement is decreasing industry certainty and limiting innovation.

There is no consistent approach to consenting research and trials for aquaculture. This leads to uncertainty and means the cost and time of the consent process is often disproportionate to the scale of the activity being applied for. Short-term, small-scale research and trial activities are often required to go through the same consenting process as large commercial farms.

The proposal is to amend the NES-MA to:

• address known issues in the NES-MA
• set out a more lenient activity status for certain changes to consent conditions
• enable new regulatory pathways for research and trial activities on existing farms and in new spaces, including making some activities permitted activities.

More detail on the proposed provisions is included in attachment 2.1. 

Amend the NES-MA to address three known issues

Amendments to the NES-MA are proposed to address three issues with the reconsenting process, by:

• enabling marine farmers to change their structures when applying for a replacement consent without also having to change species (this will remove an unnecessary barrier to marine farmers wanting to update their consent conditions when reconsenting)
• removing the NES-MA provision in Regulation 25 that excludes the additional spat catching to a farm during the NES-MA reconsenting process. This will better enable marine farmers to use existing farms to catch spat of their consented shellfish species, which could contribute to a more resilient supply of spat¹¹. 
• removing the restriction that only marine farms that obtained consents before the NES-MA came into force in 2020 can use the NES-MA regulations to make changes at reconsenting.

The proposed amendments would enable all marine farms to use the NES-MA to change their on-farm structures and species at reconsenting.

¹¹ The industry currently largely relies on wild-caught spat, which has extremely low survival rates after being transferred to a marine farm. Increasing on-farm spat catching and can boost spat supply.

This amendment proposes to streamline specific applications to change consent conditions by making them controlled activities. Applications for controlled activities must  be granted by consent authorities, although conditions relating to matters of control can be applied.

The following three types of changes to consent conditions are proposed to be controlled activities:

• applications to change consent conditions relating to consented species, including:
  • adding spat catching to an existing farm consented for that species
  • adding indigenous bivalve species and Pacific oysters to a farm already consented for bivalves
  • adding indigenous seaweed species and Undaria pinnatifida to an existing marine farm
  • adding finfish to an existing finfish farm
• applications to change consent conditions relating to structures, including:
  • converting longlines to floating shellfish cages or baskets
  • converting stick and rail to floating longlines or fixed lines
  • replacing existing mooring systems within the same footprint (eg, concrete block to screw)
• applications to change consent conditions relating to monitoring.

By streamlining specific changes to consent conditions, these amendments would make it easier for marine farmers to update conditions and innovate.

This amendment to the NES-MA is dependent on changes being made to section 127 and section 43A of the RMA through the Resource Management (Consenting and Other System Changes) Amendment Bill¹³.

These proposals should¹⁴ not be used if the change in consent conditions would result in additional adverse effects or would fundamentally change the activity.

¹³ These changes will empower NES relating to aquaculture activities to direct a more lenient activity status than a discretionary activity for applications to change or cancel consent conditions.

¹⁴ Consenting authorities are required to assess whether the application meets these requirements, or whether it should be processed as an application for a new consent.
 

This proposal better enables research and trials by permitting or specifying a more lenient activity status for a variety of activities. Making the resource management system more enabling for aquaculture research will encourage innovation and boost New Zealand’s attractiveness and viability for aquaculture research and trials. This proposal creates regulatory pathways for:

• some limited permitted activities
• consents for research and trials in space already consented for aquaculture
• consents for research and trials in space not consented for aquaculture.

More detail on this proposal including entry requirements for permitted activities, how groups are notified and matters of control and discretion can be found in attachment 2.1 and attachment 2.1.1.
 

The proposal includes making placing structures with no livestock in the coastal marine area a permitted activity. As a permitted activity does not require a resource consent, rights and arrangements that provide for Māori input into consent processes, including Treaty settlement redress, will not apply. This includes rights provided for through the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act 2011 and Ngā Rohe Moana o Ngā Hapū o Ngāti Porou Act 2019.

RMA consenting processes that enable public participation and council discretion in decision-making will also not apply.

The proposal includes different criteria depending on whether any permitted activities take place in space consented for aquaculture (see table 2). An example of how these provisions could be used is placing buoys or small rafts in the coastal marine area to monitor water quality and assess the suitability of sites for different types of aquaculture.

Table 2: Research and trial activities that are permitted activities

Tables 3 and 4 summarise proposals enabling consents for research and trials in space already consented for aquaculture and space not consented for aquaculture. 

Table 3: Research and trial activities within space already consented for aquaculture

^{15 Refers to all aquaculture excluding fed aquaculture. ‘Fed aquaculture’ refers to all aquaculture that requires the addition of food in the water column (eg, finfish).}

The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform considers the proposals to be consistent with the purpose of the RMA because they:

• further enable the use and development of natural resources for operating aquaculture activities while managing effects on the environment through clear and concise rules
• enable people and communities to provide for their social, economic and cultural wellbeing by enabling research and trials and changes to consent conditions while minimising effects on the environment through rules.

The proposed changes to the NES-MA streamline, and in some cases remove, consent requirements for activities of low risk to the environment. This will limit Māori input into decision-making in the resource management system.

The proposed research and trials provisions include two rules that make placing a structure in the coastal marine area a permitted activity. As permitted activities do not require a resource consent, rights and arrangements that provide for Māori input into consenting processes, including Treaty settlement redress, will not apply. This includes rights provided for through the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act 2011 and Ngā Rohe Moana o Ngā Hapū o Ngāti Porou Act 2019.

Consultation will be necessary to test whether iwi, hapū and other Māori groups have concerns about the proposal or any perceived impacts on sites of significance to Māori, marae, Māori land, land returned under Treaty settlements, or other matters of significance to Māori groups. The proposals are likely to benefit Māori groups that are involved in the aquaculture industry.

We have engaged with iwi aquaculture organisations, Te Ohu Kaimoana and some post-settlement governance entities (PSGEs) on these proposals.

If progressed, all proposed changes to the NES-MA would have immediate legal effect. Consent authorities would be responsible for processing and administering applications submitted under the NES-MA.

Rules in national environmental standards prevail over rules in district or regional plans. This means that while councils are required by the RMA to align plans with national environmental standards, the level of alignment does not affect the interpretation of the law.