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A project to build the world's biggest mussel farm, which has taken almost 10 years to secure resource consents, has been delayed so the developers can see what other species will flourish and be the most profitable in the area.
After a series of Environment Bay of Plenty, Environment Court and Ministry of Fisheries hearings, final approval for the 3800ha marine farm, 6km off the coast of Opotiki, was given in October.
The project is being developed by Eastern Sea Farms - a joint venture involving New Zealand Sea Farms, Sealord and the local Whakatohea Maori Trust Board.
But the chief executive of the trust board, Watene Horsfall, said a change of use consent might have to be lodged after Nelson consultancy the Cawthron Institute produced a report on other shellfish that could be farmed.
Mussel farming involves anchoring ropes with spat attached to them to buoys, and pulling them up for harvest about 12 months later. About 20,000 tonnes of mussels are expected to be produced a year.
The farm could create up to 900 jobs and generate $34 million a year for the economy of the small eastern Bay of Plenty town.
Opotiki District Council chief executive Vaughan Payne said the region was usually on the top of the social deprivation index of each Census.
The farm will be built in stages so effects on the natural food sources can be monitored.
"There's been no major farm like this approved in the country," Mr Payne said.
"It's the world's largest mussel farm. What is unknown is that if you put all these mussels together in one space, they obviously eat a lot of phytoplankton ... and they don't know whether the farm will take food away from the natural or the wild mussels along the coastline."
Eastern Sea Farms is also hoping investors from a large fishing company in Yantai, on the southwest coast of China, will finance part of the project.
To maximise the economic benefits of the mussel farm, the council wants to construct a new channel at the Opotiki Harbour to allow bigger vessels through and attract more sea traffic.
The existing channel where the Waioeka River meets the sea at Waiotahi Beach will be closed and a new channel created at the eastern Te Ngaio Beach.
Two walls will be built on each side of the entrance to improve the flushing and deepening of the channel.
The existing channel at its narrowest point is about 80m wide and can be as shallow as half a metre.
The new channel will be about 120m wide and a minimum of 4m deep.
Council staff are wading through the 210 public submissions received and will produce a report for hearings with Environment Bay of Plenty in April.
About 93 per cent of submissions were in support of the project.
The public are also invited to make oral submissions at the hearing and council hopes to receive a decision on consent by June with a view to undertaking construction between 2010 and 2012.
Consultation with central government, the private sector and ratepayers would help fund the $25 million project, Mr Payne said.
The Bay of Plenty has three oyster farms, all in the Ohiwa Harbour. An application for a 4000ha farm is also being processed for an area off Otamarakau.
Previously, the country's largest marine farm development was the 2465ha Napier Mussels project, approved in 2004.
