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Ref:630/03 |
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new zealnd
- Mar 25, 2003 |
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Moana Pacific Takes its
Kingfish Farms Out of New Zealand Because of Excessive
Regulatory Opposition |
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SEAFOOD.COM NEWS [Copyright 2003 The New Zealand
Herald. All Rights Reserved.
Maori-owned fishing company Moana Pacific is
taking its fish farming plans overseas because of
the costs of seeking planning consents in New
Zealand.
The company last month abandoned plans for a
kingfish farm that would have employed 10 to 15
people at Peach Cove in Whangarei Harbour after
residents and the Conservation Department lodged
appeals against it.
Chief executive Bruce Young said yesterday that he
now hoped to invest in a fish farm overseas.
'We are reasonably disillusioned with the resource
management process and probably will focus on
aquaculture opportunities offshore. That's what we
are currently deliberating,' he said.
'If the consents are not going to be readily
available you have to go offshore where
Governments are more than willing to see
development take place.'
He was speaking as the National Institute of Water
and Atmospheric Research (Niwa) dumped 7500
surplus young kingfish in the sea at its Bream Bay
hatchery near Marsden Pt.
Niwa is selling between 25,000 and 30,000 young
kingfish to what it describes as 'a new commercial
venture' which will be New Zealand's first
kingfish farm. The farm does not want to be named.
Two Maori groups in the Far North are also looking
at a joint venture for a land-based kingfish farm.
The Government imposed a moratorium on new marine
farms in November 2001 after a flood of more than
200 applications for farms that would have covered
about 45,000ha of coastline - almost 10 times the
area of existing shellfish and salmon farms.
A new law due to be introduced this year will
require regional councils to designate
'aquaculture management areas' where marine farms
will be permitted after the moratorium ends on
March 26 next year.
Moana Pacific's application for Peach Cove was
lodged before the moratorium started, and was
granted a permit by the Northland Regional Council
last December.
However, Whangarei District councillor Robin
Lieffering said a large number of objectors lodged
appeals against the permit because the company
failed to seek a discharge consent for fish
effluent.
'There is sufficient evidence from overseas where
these discharges kill everything that lies on the
seabed,' she said.
'There are a lot of potential diseases for caged
fish that can spread to wild fish. In this
particular place, fishing is a major recreational
activity.'
Whangarei kayaker and conservationist Sandy Page
said the proposed farm was just offshore from a
conservation area of outstanding scenic quality.
'From the sea you look up and see these great
cliffs covered in bush. If you look at the visual
impact, it's just absolutely the wrong spot,' she
said.
Mr Young said Moana Pacific wanted only a
five-year consent for Peach Cove and was prepared
to move elsewhere in the long term in a joint
venture with the Ngati Wai iwi.
'The whole idea was that we did this first one
with Ngati Wai. We would look to train some of
their people, and they would take over
eventually,' he said.
'Then we would pick other iwi groups around the
country and do it again. We would put them close
to areas of Maori settlement where these people
could get a productive enterprise at their back
door. We could easily have eight to 10 of them.
'But at the end of the day ... someone is still
taking it to the Environment Court, and therein
lies five years of delay and another $2 million.' |
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