Treaty Claims Must Not Block Aquacultural Development

The 150 applications for new marine farms in the Marlborough shows a growing, dynamic industry that has been stifled for too long by the Government's moratorium on new marine farms in the Marlborough Sounds.

ACT New Zealand Deputy Leader Ken Shirley said the decision to lift the moratorium a year early is vital to encouraging the industry to develop.

"The claim of 8 iwi from the top of the South Island for ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Marlborough Sounds and their attempts today to seek an injunction in the High Court to stop the lifting of this moratorium is a major concern to the progressive development of aquaculture in New Zealand.

"ACT New Zealand urged the Attorney General to refer the Maori Land Court finding on ownership of the foreshore and seabed direct to the Appeal Court for urgent resolution last year. But instead we face a drawn out process characterised by uncertainty.

"In settling fully, fairly and finally the grievances of the past, we cannot put at risk development for the future.

"It is hard to think of a worse investment climate for aquaculture at a time when New Zealand should be encouraging enterprise and the creation of jobs and wealth," Ken Shirley said.

ENDS

© Scoop Media