A plan change to allow new species
The Waikato is one of New Zealand’s marine farming strongholds, with 1500 hectares of water space allocated to aquaculture. Under the current Regional Coastal Plan, this space can only be used for shellfish farming. Environment Waikato is considering a plan change to allow the diversification of aquaculture. This will allow the introduction of new types of aquaculture, such as fish farming, in the existing marine farms.
There are many potential impacts of new types of aquaculture. See our recent impact reports to find out more.
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Marine farming in the Waikato
Aquaculture began in the Waikato region in the late sixties with the establishment of inter-tidal oyster farms. In the early eighties mussel farming began, and it grew rapidly throughout the eighties and nineties.
In 1999 Environment Waikato established the Wilson Bay Marine Farming Zone in the Firth of Thames. This zone allocates another 990 hectares of farmable space to aquaculture. About half of the zone has been developed so far.
By the year 2000, aquaculture in the region totalled 500 hectares. Mussel farms made up 430 hectares of this total.
The majority of marine farms are located in the Coromandel, around Wilson Bay and the Coromandel and Manaia harbours. The advantages of this area are its sheltered waters, accessibility, favourable climate, good water quality and good nutrient availability in the water.
View our Coromandel marine farm map to see farm locations from Thames to Cape Colville. To download a pdf version use the link below.
Coromandel marine farm map
(1302 kb, 186 seconds to download, 56k modem)
There is also one small oyster farm in Kawhia Harbour and a small mussel farm in Aotea Harbour on the West Coast.
Environment Waikato commissioned a study to evaluate the regional economic impact of the existing mussel and oyster farming industry. The Economic Impact of Aquaculture report showed that aquaculture contributed $27 million to the region's GDP and directly employed 270 people during 2006.
Current aquaculture policy
The Regional Coastal Plan identifies marine farming as an important industry, which provides for the social and economic wellbeing of people and communities, primarily by creating jobs and contributing directly and indirectly to the local, regional and national economy.
The plan’s objective for marine farming is that it be developed in an efficient and sustainable manner which avoids adverse effects on the coastal environment as far as practicable. The policies emphasise the following key principles:
- A precautionary approach is taken to marine farming with adverse effects being avoided as far as practicable, and remedied or mitigated if they cannot be completely avoided.
- Aquaculture should not compromise safe recreation and navigation.
- Management should be integrated between farm operators and between agencies.
- Space allocated for marine farming should be used efficiently.
The rules in the Plan provide for spat catching, oyster farming, mussel farming and shellfish research. All other forms of marine farming are prohibited.
Under 2004 legislation, all existing marine farms are aquaculture management areas (AMA) and marine farming cannot take place outside of these. New AMA can only be created by amending the Regional Coastal Plan.
Diversification of aquaculture
A huge variety of aquatic organisms are farmed worldwide, both in freshwater systems and in the marine environment. These include fish, shellfish, shrimps, lobsters, seaweed and sponges. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, more than half the fish consumed by people are farmed, and production has been increasing at 8% per year since 1950.
In New Zealand the aquaculture industry is dominated by just three species - mussels, oysters and salmon. Together they earn over $300 million per year, and mussels are now our largest seafood export. In the Waikato region marine farming is limited to mussels and oysters.
New Zealand is a small player in the world market, and its aquaculture industry is vulnerable to market changes and increasing competition from other producers. Reliance on a narrow range of species can increase the risk of failure (due to adverse climatic effects or attacks from diseases and pests, for example) in any primary production system. Increasing the range of species produced improves the security of the industry by broadening the opportunities for new markets.
The Aquaculture Sector Strategy, released by the Aquaculture Council last year, said the development of new species will provide much of the future growth of the sector. Better use of existing aquaculture space, development of new technologies and processes, and the development of new value-added products and branding will also play a role.
In response to the Sector Strategy, the Government has released "Our Blue Horizon", which includes the Government's National Position Statement on Aquaculture. This can be read on their aquaculture website.
Farming new species
Research is underway to develop the technology to farm new species. For example the Bream Bay research facility run by the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) has established a successful hatchery for kingfish and is working on hapuku.
Kingfish are ready for sea trials but attempts to farm them in Marlborough were unsuccessful due to the colder water. Sea temperatures in the Waikato region are ideal for kingfish.
What happens next
Initial discussions and scoping of the plan change have been completed. Environment Waikato is now in the process of drafting policy and rules to allow diversification of aquaculture. The content of the draft plan change will be discussed further with the community during the first half of 2009. Once the views of the community have been gathered, the draft plan change wil be considered by council.