Independent panel declines Ngāi Tahu’s plans for a salmon farm off the coast of Stewart Island

An independent panel has declined a resource consent application from Ngāi Tahu Seafood to construct and operate an open ocean salmon farm off the north-eastern coast of Stewart Island/Rakiura.

The independent panel said it declined the consent for Ngāi Tahu Seafood’s Hananui Aquaculture Project ‘’with a heavy heart’’ and agreed the proposal would have enormous benefit for Ngāi Tahu whānui, Rakiura and the wider Southland community.

The decision was released on Tuesday and a spokesperson for the company said it was reviewing the decision.

The panel said the large scale and dispersed salmon farms would result in a major step change to a receiving environment that was relatively unmodified by human activities, with very high natural character from a notable absence of any permanent marine structures and a relatively low level of human activity, except transiting and anchoring vessels.

The company made the application under the Covid-19 Recovery (Fast-track Consenting) Act 2020 to develop an area of approximately 2,500 hectares off the north-eastern coast of Stewart Island/Rakiura for finfish (salmon) farming in May 2021.

It elected to seek a referral from the Minister for the Environment and the Minister of Conservation to an expert panel under the Act. The Ministers were satisfied the project would help achieve the purpose of the Act and referred it to a panel, which was chaired by Clare Lenihan, with Reginald Proffit and Sharon McGarry.

The project’s website says the proposed location is two to six kilometres off the northern coast of Rakiura, and it has spent more than two years working with mana whenua and independent experts to find the right location.

It said salmon would be housed in floating polar circle type pens off the northern coast of Rakiura where the latest technology and environmental conditions (ideal water quality, temperature, waves and sea currents) would minimise environmental impact and ensure production of a sustainable product.

The proposed farm also aligned with the Government’s plan for open ocean aquaculture as part of a sustainable growth strategy to achieve a $3 billion industry by 2035 for economic and job growth, the website said.

The decision said the marine area was important for a number of threatened and at risk indigenous fauna, including sensitive benthic communities, marine mammals and seabirds, where adverse effects must be avoided.

The proposal is adjacent to Rakiura National Park, and experts agree that at the very least part of the area adjacent to the proposal is an area of Outstanding Natural Landscape (out to 2km) and an area of Outstanding Natural Character, the decision says.

In 2021, an aquaculture agreement was signed between Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu (Te Rūnanga), Te Ohu Kaimoana, and the Government, which delivers on the Crown’s settlement obligations.

As a result of the Southland agreement, a 16.6 hectare area of aquaculture space off the northern coast of Rakiura/Stewart Island was transferred to Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu to use for aquaculture.

The iwi still needed to apply for resource consent for any marine farming activity.