Benson-Pope David: Aquaculture Reform Bill — Second Reading Instructions to Committee In Committee 
Benson-Pope David: Aquaculture Reform Bill — Second Reading Instructions to Committee In Committee 
[Volume:622;Page:17686] 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE (Minister of Fisheries) 
: 
 I move  
That the Aquaculture Reform Bill be now read a second time 
. The Aquaculture Reform Bill amends the Resource Management Act 1991 and the Fisheries Acts of 1983 and 1996 to secure a sustainable future for New Zealand’s aquaculture industry. It defines aquaculture’s place in the marine environment and addresses shortcomings in poorly integrated coastal planning aquaculture and fisheries management regimes. The bill balances economic development environmental sustainability and community concern. 
A significant aspect of the bill is that it resolves the unfinished business of the 1992 fisheries settlement. The bill provides for full and final settlement of post-1992 iwi claims to commercial aquaculture in the coastal marine area. The bill deals with the spatial aspects that were left unfinished by the fisheries settlement. 
The bill as reported back now includes a number of important changes. I thank the Primary Production Committee for its suggestions; I believe that those will improve the bill. 
It is recognised that the existing dual regime under the Resource Management Act and the Fisheries Act could not cope with the overload of marine-farming applications. It also led to higher processing costs delays and poor environmental results. The bill addresses those issues and lifts the uncertainty that has hung over the aquaculture industry since the 1980s. It has taken a lot of work and consultation. Much of the bill’s form is a direct result of considerable consultation with industry and local government. 
Let us be clear about what this bill means for the aquaculture industry. The bill makes the Resource Management Act the main legislation for managing aquaculture. That will enable councils to effectively manage aquaculture and encourage the aquaculture industry to develop in a sustainable way. Under the reforms new aquaculture will take place in aquaculture management areas which regional councils will implement through their coastal plans or which can be initiated by a private plan change. Aquaculture management areas will be created by the plan change process. Affected parties and the public will have a say over where aquaculture should be allowed to take place. Industry can initiate a facilitated private plan change and if successful will have preferential allocation of space. All marine farms with existing coastal permits to occupy space will be deemed to be aquaculture management areas unless those areas are identified in the plan or proposed plan as being unsuitable for aquaculture. Existing farms 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 Act or 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 of that period provided that the farm remains in an aquaculture management area. Marine farmers will no longer require a marine-farming permit under the Fisheries Act 1983. Their activity will be managed through the coastal permit under the Resource Management Act. Marine farmers will be recognised for the work they undertake in developing plan changes. We also want to provide greater certainty for existing marine farmers on the renewal of a consent. When a marine farm resource consent expires if the farm is still within an aquaculture management area and the operation remains similar the incumbent’s application will be considered first. Where the existing farmer is using the space properly we want to provide that he or she continues to do so. 
Certainty brings benefits both to the industry and to the community. However we do not believe that rights in perpetuity are appropriate for what is after all public space. The bill seeks to balance competing interests providing protections for fishing under the quota management system with an undue adverse effects test. The select committee has recommended provision of an opportunity for court review of any decisions made under that test and in the interests of transparency and ultimately fairness I agree that that is an important addition. 
Part 5 addresses Maori interests in marine farming. It provides iwi with where possible an allocation of an area equivalent to 20 percent of the total marine-farming space allocated since 1992 and with 20 percent of any new marine-farming space. This proposal is a full and final settlement of Maori claims to commercial marine-farming space post - September 1992. That represents a sound basis for Maori and the marine-farming sector to move forward. The select committee has recommended that iwi are allocated areas that are more manageable with fewer isolated blocks. That allocation model better fits with the planning process for developing and allocating aquaculture management areas. Initially marine-farming space allocated to Maori will be provided to Te Ohu Kai Moana Trustee Ltd to hold for direct allocation to iwi—those same iwi that are entitled to receive an allocation of inshore fisheries quota under the 1992 deed of settlement. Te Ohu Kai Moana Trustee Ltd will hold those settlement assets separately from the assets it holds in trust under the Maori Fisheries Act. 
It is clear that aquaculture was deliberately left out of the 1992 fisheries settlement by the then Government and that it has remained the unfinished business of that agreement. This bill has emerged from considerable consultation with industry and stakeholders. Feedback we have received to date from industry has been hugely positive especially in recent days with both the Marine Farming Association and the New Zealand Aquaculture Council saying they look forward to the lifting of the moratorium. This bill supports clarifies and defines aquaculture’s place in the marine environment and provides for the sustainable growth of the aquaculture industry in New Zealand. I am delighted to commend it to the House.