The New Zealand government unveiled an ambitious aquaculture plan over the next seven years to become a $3 billion industry by 2035. Stuart Nash, Fisheries Minister, released the government strategy at the NZ Aquaculture Conference.

Alongside the $3 billion goal, the New Zealand aquaculture strategy focuses efforts on developing sustainable open ocean and land-based farming, increasing farm efficiency, increasing product value and environmental performance in existing inshore farming, building resilience to environmental change and supporting the development and adoption of new technologies and practices to reduce the industries contribution emissions.

“Aquaculture contributes significantly to regional development. It generated over $600 million in revenue in 2018, and employed 3,000 people, especially in the regions. There is real potential for aquaculture to enrich our economy and our global reputation with Government, Iwi and Industry coming together,” Nash said.

The strategy aims to maximize the performance and value of the existing inshore farm footprint, and to enable the industry to sustainably extend farming into the open ocean and into modern land-based facilities. It also sets actions to make aquaculture more sustainable, reduce waste and emissions across aquaculture production, and plan for how the industry adapts to climate change.