Baldock Larry: Resource Management (Aquaculture Moratorium Extension) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Baldock Larry: Resource Management (Aquaculture Moratorium Extension) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:614;Page:10624] 
LARRY BALDOCK (United Future) 
: 
 I rise to speak on behalf of United Future on the Resource Management (Aquaculture Moratorium Extension) Amendment Bill. The moratorium began in November 2001 and was due to finish on 25 March 2004. This bill will extend it to 31 December 2004—or earlier if things are in place by that time to enable it to be lifted. The moratorium was implemented to stop a rush towards developing new marine farms before reforms to clarify the aquaculture industry’s ad hoc legislative and administrative framework could be put in place. 
The aquaculture industry itself is strongly opposed to any extension of the moratorium as it was to the original moratorium and United Future understands that position. In fact United Future considers a 9-month extension of the existing moratorium on new marine farms to be highly undesirable. However we understand that the long-awaited aquaculture reform legislation that will make it possible for the moratorium to be lifted cannot go ahead until the seabed and foreshore issue has been satisfactorily resolved. 
The aquaculture industry has the potential for huge growth and there is a huge opportunity cost in preventing that growth for any period of time. The industry currently earns approximately $312 million per year and it definitely has the potential to be generating $1 billion per year by 2020 if the Government lets it. It was experiencing very rapid growth before the moratorium was put in place but is now in danger of stagnating and falling behind our overseas competitors. 
There is also the very real possibility that would-be investors in New Zealand aquaculture will start taking their investment dollars off shore to places like Australia South America and Europe. However as unfortunate as the extension of the moratorium is United Future knows that the foreshore and seabed issue has to be resolved before any new aquaculture legislation can be completed. 
Also once the moratorium has been lifted and all the pre-reform regulatory hurdles and structural roadblocks to growth have been removed we are confident that the New Zealand aquaculture industry will be able to recover its rapid growth track. With the pristine New Zealand environment and the highly profitable marketing opportunities that come with that aquaculture investors will not be able to pass up a good thing and will come flooding back. When those further regulatory and legislative measures are put in place as United Future we hope to see aquaculture marine areas extended to become aquaculture marine parks so that they will be not only aquaculture marine areas developed by regional councils but they will also incorporate land-based areas as well to enable those involved in aquaculture farming to develop land-based activities necessarily connected to their marine activities that would receive the same resource consent processes as would apply to aquaculture marine areas. We will be continuing to discuss that with the Government as we approach that legislation in the New Year. 
In the meantime United Future will be monitoring developments closely and we urge the Government to take all measures possible to resolve the foreshore and seabed issue and to enable this moratorium to be lifted as soon as possible. We will be supporting this bill through its first reading.