Paper by Karen Price, Partner and Mark Sly, Solicitor (NZ and Qld) Minter Ellison Rudd Watts, Auckland
In New Zealand, as elsewhere, aquaculture presents a tremendous challenge for regulatory and planning agencies, and as a consequence, also for the industry itself. Marine farms and farming areas now cover very large areas, and move further off-shore as technology advances. The speed and extent of development are far beyond what can have been envisaged when aquaculture was first legislated for in the 1960s,1 and deficiencies in the current legislative regime caused the Government to impose a two year moratorium on the granting of coastal permits for aquaculture activities in March this year,2 to operate while reform proposals were under consideration.
