Ngāi Tahu Seafood’s Hananui Aquaculture Project is on the list.

It will develop a 2500ha marine farm for finfish off the northeastern coast of Stewart Island.

Te Aupouri Fisheries Management wants to develop nine marine farms in Northland, Impact Marine wants to build a salmon farm and processing facility on land in Southland while Clifford Bay Marine Farms wants to renew the consent for a 424ha mussel farm in the Marlborough Sounds.

Aquaculture New Zealand chief executive Gary Hooper said the list was really exciting for the industry.

“Aquaculture New Zealand has huge potential in New Zealand and these projects could be an absolute game changer for many regional economies.

“We are already world-famous for our fantastic seafood so these projects will give us the ability to better service both the domestic and international markets.”

Hooper said lengthy consent processes have held the industry back for too long.

“Under the Resource Management Act, everything took a long time, it was very expensive so it put people off investing, you could go through 10 years of consenting processes and spend $10 million and end up with nothing.

“The RMA would pitch the economy against the environment and I’d like to think New Zealand is a lot smarter than that, we can have world-class environmental guardianship and stimulate the economy at the same time.”

– RNZ