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Praise for aquaculture initiatives

The aquaculture industry is praising the Government for agreeing in principle to give Fisheries Minister Phil Heatley the power to override regional coastal plans.Cabinet has agreed to a range of amendments intended to boost the sector's earning potential

NZPA
Wed, 28 Apr 2010

The aquaculture industry is praising the Government for agreeing in principle to give Fisheries Minister Phil Heatley the power to override regional coastal plans.

Cabinet has agreed to a range of amendments intended to boost the sector's earning potential while leaving aquaculture management in the hands of regional authorities.

They include an agreement in principle that the minister of fisheries will be able to amend plans in cases of significant regional or national interest.

"We want to free up regulatory bottlenecks that have kept aquaculture planning in limbo," Mr Heatley said yesterday.

Inflexible rules had stifled the industry, stopping companies from investing, and the creation of new aquaculture had stalled, he said.

Aquaculture New Zealand chairman Peter Vitasovich said it was encouraging, after a "lost decade", to see the Government take significant initiatives.

"The plans for reform are a tangible demonstration that the Government recognises aquaculture can make an important contribution to the growth of New Zealand's economy," he said.

The country's biggest salmon producer, NZ King Salmon, also said there would be big economic gains.

"Currently we are running our business on five surface hectares of water space and if we can increase this to only 20ha we are confident of growing it to a half-billion dollar company," chief executive Grant Rosewarne said.

"We have had no new water space allocated for six years...we have demonstrated good, sustainable use of the water space and we have done that in partnership with the local iwi."

The amendments agreed by Cabinet include establishing a dedicated business unit within government, taking a lead role in planning for sustainable growth and streamlining processes.

The Government's aim is to generate annual sales of $1 billion by 2025.

NZPA
Wed, 28 Apr 2010
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Praise for aquaculture initiatives
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