Project overview
EDS is undertaking a multi-year research project looking at the future of our oceans management system and options for reform.
Our Oceans Reform Project has two phases.
Phase 1 of the Project (2020-2022) examined issues within the current oceans management regime and identified options for systemic reform.
This phase included:
- A working paper called The Breaking Wave: A conversation about reforming the oceans management system in Aotearoa New Zealand (2021), which set out various options for change along with a series of questions to stimulate a blue-skies conversation about reform.
- A final report called The Breaking Wave: Oceans Reform in Aotearoa New Zealand (2022), which presented several individual reform options and distinct starting points for whole of system reform. These ranged from better using what we currently have, to fundamentally reimagining the system’s normative basis and structural features (e.g. through developing a single Oceans Act or pursuing legal personhood for the moana).
Phase 2 of the Project (2022-2025) is currently in progress. This work is focused on developing a single preferred model for reform and charting a transition to the new system over a reasonable timeframe. It includes two working papers on marine spatial planning and marine spatial protection.
Our oceans reform work builds on prior research looking at inshore fisheries management in 2018 (Voices from the Sea: Managing New Zealand’s Fisheries here) and aquaculture management in 2019 (Farming the Sea: Marine Aquaculture within Resource Management Reform here).
We frequently draw on this research when preparing submissions on legislative and policy amendments affecting the marine environment. Watch EDS’s webinar on the Hauraki Gulf / Tīkapa Moana Marine Protection Bill & Bottom Fishing Access Zones here.
If you would like to discuss EDS’s ocean reform work, please contact Raewyn Peart at raewyn@eds.org.nz.
We thank the New Zealand Law Foundation, the Michael and Suzanne Borrin Foundation, Whakatupu Aotearoa Foundation, the Ministry for the Environment and the Department of Conservation for supporting our oceans reform work.
