SAFE Animal Squad
Marine farms – or fish farms – are known as the factory farms of the sea.
Fishes are recognised as sentient beings but are one of the most widely mistreated animals in New Zealand. Farmed fishes suffer a lifetime of misery in overcrowded sea cages, often dying en mass due to poor farming conditions. Despite this suffering, the Government is proposing new legislation which would further threaten the lives and welfare of fishes trapped in factory farms at sea.
In its simplest terms, this proposed legislation would enable all 1,200 marine farms currently operating in New Zealand to continue for an additional 20 years without assessing the impacts on fishes or the environment.
This Bill would signal a significant blow to farmed fishes already impacted by:
This Bill is being rushed through under “urgency” but we cannot let it pass unchallenged. SAFE has lodged a submission as an organisation opposing the Bill, along with hundreds of our supporters as individuals.
Submissions closed at 11:59pm, Sunday 16 June 2024.
I strongly oppose the Resource Management (Extended Duration of Coastal Permits for Marine Farms) Amendment Bill due to its potential for significantly negative impacts on fishes.
Farmed fishes in New Zealand are confined in overcrowded and waste-ridden water. They suffer from bone deformities and skin lesions, are subjected to extreme heat stress, and die in mass mortality events every year.
This Bill undermines the intention of the Animal Welfare Act (1999) which recognises fishes as sentient beings. Fishes in marine farms are prevented from displaying their natural behaviours, and marine farms simply cannot meet the basic welfare needs of fishes.
This Bill undermines the crucial process of monitoring and assessment for marine based activities which must adapt and innovate, rather than be locked into decades-old practices.
I am appalled that this Bill removes the requirement for community input on marine consents. This blatantly disregards Aotearoa’s democratic values and removes a key mechanism for mana whenua to safeguard taonga and exercise kaitiakitanga.
In addition to the negative impacts on fishes, extending blanket consents to all existing marine farms without periodic review would risk significant and possibly irreversible environmental damage, including nutrient pollution, biodiversity loss, and the release of hazardous chemicals.
Ensuring robust standards of animal and environmental protection should be absolute bottom-lines when considering the farming of any animal. This Bill is dangerous and irresponsible.
I urge you to reject the Resource Management (Extended Duration of Coastal Permits for Marine Farms) Amendment Bill and uphold the values that make Aotearoa a beacon of democracy and environmental stewardship.
Submissions are now CLOSED
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