Aquaculture Levy Roadshow

19th January 2007

Aquaculture Levy Roadshow

Recently formed New Zealand Aquaculture Ltd (NZAQ), established to provide a single voice for New Zealand Aquaculture, is holding a series of aquaculture industry consultation meetings around the country over the next few weeks.

The meetings are being held to consult with industry about its intent to apply for a commodity levy. If approved, the levy would secure funding from industry to enable NZAQ to begin implementation of its 'New Zealand Aquaculture Sector Strategy', launched late last year which aims to become a billion-dollar industry by 2025. The levy would also be used to finance research and advocacy for generic issues impacting on the New Zealand Aquaculture Sector and a means for aquaculture species groups to fund activities specific to their species.

"I'm looking forward to getting out there and engaging with all industry participants. It is important to discuss what we intend to do with this levy and the meetings will provide an opportunity for us to hear what the industry's views are on what they think we should do with the levy to best serve their interests," says chief executive Mike Burrell.

"We are looking forward to working on the industry's behalf and the levy will provide us with the means to do this effectively. The aquaculture industry is an industry going places and it is very exciting to be a part of," said Mr Burrell.

Once the consultation is completed a ballot of all levy payers will be conducted to seek support for the proposal. To be successful the result must be more than 50% approval of those potentially affected by the votes cast and 50% approval of those potentially affected by the value of the rights owned. Under the Commodity Levy Act 1990, the industry is required to consult with potential levy payers and conduct a referendum every six years to determine if there is grower support for the levy.

The consultation meetings are as follows:

Date
Time
Location
Venue

Thu 25 Jan
2.00pm - 5.00pm
Invercargill
Ascot Park Hotel
Cnr Tay & Racecourt Roads, Invercargill

Fri 26 Jan
2.00pm - 5.00pm
Christchurch
Commodore Airport Hotel
449 Meorial Ave, Burnside, Christchurch

Mon 29 Jan
2.00pm - 5.00pm
Blenheim
Marlborough Hotel
20 Nelson Street, Blenheim

Tue 30 Jan
2.00pm - 5.00pm
Nelson
Trailways Motor Inn
Trafalgar Street, Nelson

Wed 7 Feb
2.00pm - 5.00pm
Whangarei
Kingsgate Hotel
9 Riverside Drive, Whangarei

Thu 8 Feb
2.00pm - 5.00pm
Coromandel
Ambulance Office
Tiki Road, Coromandel

ENDS

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