February 22, 2008

New Zealand rejects fish farming bid in favour of fisheries
 

Some 2000-hectares of New Zealand's Golden and Tasman Bays are considered as potential aquaculture areas, but applications to develop them for fish farming have been turned down in favour of the fishery sector.

Dan Lees, aquaculture manager of Fisheries Ministry, said the proposed areas would affect snapper and scallop fisheries although he would welcome evidence that says the contrary.

Lees said a compromise between the aquaculture and fishery sectors to share resources could affect the final decision, although Graeme Coates, the executive director of Marine Farming Association, said nothing like that had happened before.

Agreements to share resources in other aquaculture areas had been made between the two sectors before, but not in areas like Marlborough and Golden and Tasman Bays that would affect the major interests of large fishing companies.

Coates said the entire industry would benefit from a compromise, and that Lees' justification that there were already 8000-hectares of permitted aquaculture area was misleading as most of the 8000-hectares were used on a rotation basis for spat catching, meaning that the actual area in use was only about 4500-hectares.