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New Zealand law explained for everyone

Fast-track Approvals Act 2024

Fast-track approvals process - Steps before lodging substantive application - Preliminary steps for application for resource consent

31: Pre-request aquaculture agreement

You could also call this:

“Making an agreement before asking to start a fish farm”

This part of the law talks about what you need to do if you want to start an aquaculture project in New Zealand. Aquaculture is when you grow fish, shellfish, or plants in water.

If you want to start this kind of project, you need to get approval first. Before you ask for this approval, you might need to make an agreement about your aquaculture plans. This agreement is called a pre-request aquaculture agreement.

If you want to make this agreement, you need to give it to the right government official before you ask for approval for your project. This is important because the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) will need to ask for advice about your project.

The rules for this agreement are similar to the ones in the Fisheries Act 1996. But there are a few small changes. For example, when the Fisheries Act talks about the ‘chief executive’, in this case it means the group of people who will look at your project application.

If there’s more than one person in charge of the project, any one of them can give in the agreement for everyone.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS1015663.

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Part 2 Fast-track approvals process
Steps before lodging substantive application: Preliminary steps for application for resource consent

31Pre-request aquaculture agreement

  1. This section applies if a substantive application for a listed project or a referred project is to seek an approval described in section 42(4)(a) (resource consent) for which the EPA will need to request a recommendation under section 48.

  2. If the authorised person for the project wishes to lodge a pre-request aquaculture agreement in relation to the area, they must lodge it with the relevant chief executive before lodging the substantive application.

  3. Section 186ZM of the Fisheries Act 1996 applies in relation to the pre-request aquaculture agreement—

  4. as if the reference to the chief executive in section 186ZM(9) of that Act were a reference to the panel that considers the substantive application; and
    1. with any other necessary modifications.

      1. If there is more than 1 authorised person for a project, any 1 of the authorised persons may comply with subsection (2) on behalf of all of them.