The Environment Select Committee today recommended that this Bill be passed with minor amendments. It will create 12 new high protection areas, five new seafloor protection areas and two extensions to existing marine reserves. The boundaries of the areas to be protected are unchanged from those initially set out in the Bill.

EDS Policy Director Raewyn Peart says that “the Committee’s recommendations are unanimous, indicating strong cross party support for the initiative …. The areas to be protected are all ecologically important in their own right, but collectively they will help restore the overall productivity of the Gulf, including enhancing fish production.”

The full Select Committee report is here.

More information: raewyn@eds.org.nz