Ministry gives provisional approval to end 13-year struggle for shellfish farms

A 13-year battle to put shellfish farms between Auckland and the Coromandel peninsula is finally nearing an end, after the Ministry of Fisheries gave a tentative nod to new marine farms.

The Ministry of Fisheries has made a preliminary decision to approve the 1783ha Wilson Bay Interim Aquaculture Management Area in the Firth of Thames.

It wants to hear more from the public before making a final decision in June.

If the marine farm area is approved, a consortium of marine farmers whose application for 520ha of new marine farms has been sitting in the system for 13 years will be able to get a decision.

The Government wants to grow New Zealand's aquaculture industry and is investigating the possibility of more than 19 new marine farm areas in Northland.

Greenshell New Zealand managing director Peter Vitasovich said allowing new marine farms in the Firth of Thames would bring certainty to the local industry and new jobs to Thames and Coromandel.

He was among a consortium of marine farmers that applied to Environment Waikato more than a decade ago for permission to build new shellfish farms in the area.

That application was put on hold in 2002, when the Government ordered a moratorium on all new marine farms until appropriate areas for fish farming - called Aquaculture Management Areas (AMAs) - had been identified.

Ministry of Fisheries regulatory manager Russell Burnard said opposition to the AMA in the Firth of Thames had focused on detritus that could fall on the sea floor and the risk of farms getting in the way of fishing.

"Some commercial fishers are concerned, [but] most recreational and customary fishers are reasonably comfortable," he said.

The Wilson Bay Interim AMA would cover 690ha of existing mussel farms and 520ha of new farms, as well as space for boats to move between the farm blocks.

Submissions on the preliminary decision should be made by May 15.