Healthy oceans and thriving marine life
The Green Party will restore our fisheries and ocean health.
Aotearoa should have healthy and thriving oceans, with abundant marine life that provides for sustainable kaimoana. Oceans are the lifeblood of our planet, and if they are in trouble, so are we.
Right now, our oceans and marine life are being harmed by overfishing, trawling of the seabed, excessive plastic pollution, warmer seas, and fishing practices that kill seabirds, dolphins, seals and sealions, and other marine species.
The health of the oceans around Aotearoa is declining at an alarming rate. We need a government that will act.
The Green Party successfully persuaded the current Government to support a moratorium on seabed mining in international waters. We have pushed for greater marine protection, in line with New Zealand’s leadership on the High Seas Treaty.
Aotearoa can have healthy and thriving oceans, with abundant marine life that provides for sustainable kaimoana. The time is now.
Our plan
- Reform marine protected areas legislation, replacing this with new te Tiriti based legislation, and make substantial progress in partnership with iwi and hāpu towards the target of protecting at least 30 percent of Aotearoa’s marine environment by 2030.
- Set up a well-resourced and politically independent Ocean Commission to develop te Tiriti-based ocean governance, and implement ecosystem-based
management. - Restore the mauri and life-supporting capacity of our oceans, including by resourcing mātauranga Māori organisations, and promoting the use of mauri-based
wellbeing indicators. - Ban seabed mining in the coastal marine area and the exclusive economic zone; and continue work for a moratorium on seabed mining in international waters.
- Phase out damaging fishing methods, starting by banning bottom trawling on seamounts, banning recreational set netting and dredging by 2026, and banning commercial set netting and dredging by 2028.
- Help restore the health of the Hauraki Gulf Tīkapa Moana by establishing a network of marine protected areas, restoring shellfish beds, and reducing catch limits to allow stocks to replenish.
- Reduce fisheries bycatch of protected species such as seabirds, marine mammals, and turtles, by setting fisheries-related mortality limits, and requiring fisheries to close when the limit is reached.
- Ensure cameras are rolled out as soon as possible on the entire fishing fleet (deepwater as well as inshore) and increase observer coverage until this happens.