Benson-Pope David: Aquaculture Reform Bill — First Reading 
Benson-Pope David: Aquaculture Reform Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:619;Page:15110] 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE (Minister of Fisheries) 
: 
 I move  
That the Aquaculture Reform Bill be now read a first time. 
 At the appropriate time I will move that the bill be referred to the Primary Production Committee with an instruction that the committee present its final report on or before 29 November 2004 and that the committee have the authority to meet at any time while the House is sitting except during oral questions during any evening on a day in which there has been a sitting of the House and on a Friday in a week in which there has been a sitting of the House and to meet outside Wellington during a sitting of the House despite Standing Orders 191 193(a) and 194(1)(b) and (c). 
The Aquaculture Reform Bill amends the Resource Management Act and the Fisheries Acts of 1983 and 1996 to secure a sustainable future for New Zealand’s aquaculture industry. It addresses shortcomings in the poorly integrated coastal planning aquaculture and fisheries management regimes. The bill balances economic development environmental sustainability treaty obligations and community concerns. The Government recognised that the current dual regimes under the Resource Management Act and the Fisheries Acts were producing an overload of marine farming applications leading to higher processing costs delays and poor environmental results. Prior to the aquaculture moratorium people could apply for space in almost any part of the coastal marine area and there was no limit on the amount of space that they could apply for. In the late 1990s demand for space increased fivefold. That placed enormous pressure on councils and communities to cope with the volume of applications. The bill will enable councils to look at all the sustainability issues related to aquaculture and therefore they will be better able to deal with all of its effects on the environment and to assist the aquaculture industry to develop in a sustainable way. 
Under the reforms new aquaculture can take place only in aquaculture management areas which regional councils will implement through their coastal plans. Councils will be able to manage demand for space in a controlled way. The bill introduces greater flexibility in creating aquaculture management areas. In addition to the normal council planning process the industry may initiate and fund a facilitated private plan change and if successful it will have preferential allocation of that space. As aquaculture management areas will be created by the plan change process affected parties and the public will continue to have a say about where aquaculture should be allowed to take place. The bill also gives regional councils the ability to manage the allocation of coastal space rather than having to process all applications on a “first come first served” basis. Unoccupied space in aquaculture management areas will be tendered unless the regional coastal plan provides otherwise. Tender income will be shared between the Crown and the relevant regional council. 
The bill also provides iwi with where possible the allocation of an area equivalent to 20 percent of the total marine farming space allocated since 1992 and of 20 percent of any new marine farming space within a particular region. That would include 20 percent of any new space generated through an industry-initiated private plan change. That proposal represents a sound basis for Maori and the marine farming sector to move forward. We have aligned the aquaculture settlement with the 1992 fisheries deed of settlement—aquaculture being clearly the unfinished business of that 1992 settlement. This proposal is a full and final settlement of Maori claims to commercial marine farming space post - September 1992. That is an important step. Settling contemporary commercial claims removes a major impediment to progress and certainty. It will also allow Maori to continue to be a major contributor to the development of the aquaculture industry. In order to obtain space equivalent to 20 percent of the space already allocated since 1992 the Crown will look to achieve the goal by providing new space if it is available. The Crown may purchase space currently being used for marine farming on a “willing buyer willing seller” basis. If that is not possible the financial equivalent may be provided to Maori. In addition any marine farming space provided to iwi would be subject to all general Resource Management Act requirements. Initially the marine farming space allocated to Maori would be provided to Te Ohu Kai Moana Trustee Ltd to hold for direct allocation to iwi—those same iwi that were entitled to receive an allocation of inshore fisheries quota under the 1992 deed of settlement. 
The aquaculture industry needs to know what the bill will mean for it. Existing farms already under a Resource Management Act regime will continue for the life of their coastal permits. The bill contains transitional provisions to move the existing marine farming authorisations granted under the Fisheries Acts or the Marine Farming Act into the new regime. Marine Farming Act farms will have Resource Management Act consents for 20 years with one right of extension at the end provided the farm remains in an aquaculture management area. Marine farms with existing coastal permits to occupy space will be deemed to be aquaculture management areas for the types of aquaculture activities authorised by the permit unless that area is identified in the plan or proposed plan as being unsuitable for aquaculture. Marine farmers will no longer require a marine farming permit under the Fisheries Act 1983. They will simply be required to be registered as fish farmers under the Fisheries Act 1996 for the purposes of record-keeping and product-tracking and their activity will be managed through the coastal permit issued under the Resource Management Act. 
The industry has told us that the current “first come first served” approach for allocating aquaculture space is not the best option when a resource consent expires. Now when a marine farm resource consent expires provided it is still within an aquaculture management area and the proposed marine-farming operation will be substantially the same the incumbent’s application will be considered first if he or she meets specified criteria. Those criteria include complying with the regional coastal plan showing a good track record in meeting consent conditions and whether the marine farm demonstrates current industry good practice. That mechanism appropriately recognises a reasonable expectation of commercial certainty for operators but for the avoidance of any possible doubt I state clearly that the procedure in no way confers occupation rights in perpetuity over public space. 
This bill provides for the sustainable growth of the aquaculture industry in our country. Once this bill is passed the temporary national aquaculture moratorium and the local moratoria in Tasman Bay Southland and the Firth of Thames that have been in place since 1984 can be lifted. The bill needs to be passed no later than the last sitting day of 2004 so that the legislation is in force before those moratoria expire. In the last few months we have made extraordinary progress in getting to this point and that is in no small way thanks to the efforts of my predecessor the Hon Pete Hodgson the work done under great pressure by staff from the Ministry of Fisheries and the Ministry for the Environment and the advice cooperation and goodwill from representatives of the industry and of local government. I am confident that that pattern of behaviour will continue for the benefit of all New Zealanders and that the latent potential of the aquaculture industries will be available to our communities. It is with a considerable degree of pleasure that I commend this bill to the House.