Source: SAFE For Animals
Animal rights organisation SAFE is raising concerns about a proposed large-scale salmon farming operation spanning a coastal marine area of up to 2,500 hectares in the Foveaux Strait, off the north-eastern coast of Rakiura/Stewart Island.
In December 2024, the Coalition Government passed the Fast-track Approvals Act, opening the door for large scale and controversial projects to bypass standard scrutiny and removing opportunities for public input on development proposals.
SAFE Campaign Manager Emily Hall says the fast-tracking of fish farm developments without standard consultation reflects a broader pattern of the Coalition Government sidelining animal welfare.
“This Fast-track application is for an underwater factory farm, where countless fishes would be confined in appalling conditions. When projects of this scale are pushed through without proper scrutiny or public oversight, animal welfare risks are ignored and accountability is lost” says Hall.
Fishes are recognised as sentient beings under the Animal Welfare Act 1999, yet confinement in cages on land or at sea prevents them from exhibiting normal patterns of behaviour. Hall says this fundamentally undermines the legal protections provided for animals under the Act.
“Good animal welfare depends on physical health, psychological wellbeing, and the ability for animals to live in environments that allow for natural behaviours, all of which are compromised by factory fish farming systems.”
“Fishes intensively bred in cages are subject to terrible conditions, including severe overcrowding, poor water quality, skeletal deformities, and documented stress and depression.” says Hall.
Highlighting the exclusion of fish welfare experts from the list of parties invited to comment under the Fast-track process, Hall warns the Hananui proposal exposes fundamental flaws in approving projects of this scale without essential expert input.
” Allowing these projects to be Fast-tracked without input from fish welfare experts highlights a consistent failure of this Government to uphold the intent of animal welfare legislation.”
At the 2025 Aquaculture New Zealand conference, Oceans & Fisheries Minister Shane Jones told attendees this is a “risk-riddled industry” that was constantly confronting problems. At the same conference, ministers openly promoted large scale expansion of fish farming, despite acknowledging the industry’s high level of risk.
Notably, the Hananui project had previously been rejected through the COVID-19 Fast-track Consenting process; in August 2023, an expert panel declined the application.
“It is deeply concerning that an industrial scale project proposing to breed countless fishes could proceed without appropriate scrutiny of impacts on the animals it intends to farm” says Hall. “In the absence of invited fish welfare expertise, we have submitted comments to the Hananui Fast- track panel and requested that this information be taken into account.”
“Like all animals, fishes deserve to live freely in their natural environment and we will continue to push for accountability because animal welfare on these underwater factory farms needs to be a priority concern.”
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Notes
1. Expert panel declines Hananui application in August 2023 Source: Environmental Protection Authority
2. Comments submitted by SAFE to the Fast-track panel (see pdf attachment)