Green light for open ocean salmon farm in New Zealand
New Zealand’s fisheries regulators have given their approval for the country’s first open ocean salmon farm.
New Zealand King Salmon (NZKS), which wants to produce 10,000 tonnes of king salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha, also known as chinook salmon) annually at a site 7km north of Cape Lambert in northern Marlborough, South Island. The board announced yesterday that it had received a positive aquaculture decision for the project, called Blue Endeavour.
“Fisheries New Zealand (part of the Ministry for Primary Industries) assesses the effects of proposed marine farm areas on fishing through the undue adverse effects test (UAE test). A proposed marine farm cannot proceed if it would have ‘undue’ adverse effects as defined by the process,” stated the company.
Review period
NZKS said yesterday’s approval will be followed by a 30-working day judicial review period. A judicial review would require a judge of the High Court to examine whether the way the decision was made was in accordance with the law.
“We will make another announcement once this judicial review period is over (estimated date 28 February 2024). Once this period is complete, NZK can give effect to its already granted resource consent,” said the company.
NZKS operates 11 sites in three water bodies in the Marlborough Sounds – Tory Channel, Charlotte Sound, and Pelorus Sound.
Its Blue Endeavour site is planned to comprise two blocks of 10 circular pens, producing a harvest of 10,000 tonnes annually. The project is aligned with the NZ government’s aquaculture strategy to increase the value of the industry to NZ $3 billion by 2035.
