We’re taking the health of our oceans seriously and our Thriving Oceans Plan sets out exactly how the Green Party will protect them so we all can enjoy them - now and in the future.

Successive governments have allowed our oceans to become more under threat more than ever before in human history. 

We know that in the aftermath of COVID-19, our recovery cannot be as simple as returning to “business as normal”. We need to invest in and build new systems that create long-term resilience and prioritise the health of our planet.

By protecting our oceans now, we can ensure our fisheries are truly sustainable, we can charge a premium for exports and we can continue to catch a feed for our whānau. 

Here’s what our Thriving Oceans Plan includes:

• Protecting at least 30% of Aotearoa’s oceans by 2030, through new legislation to create a network of marine protected areas in the territorial sea and the EEZ
  
  
• Reviewing the Quota Management System to restore fisheries stocks and marine habitats, and ensure that future generations can enjoy abundant oceans. This would include developing a new way of managing fisheries based on holistic ecosystem management, to ensure a kaitiakitanga-focused approach to sustainable fisheries management. We commit to developing this in partnership with Māori within a framework that upholds rights under te Tiriti o Waitangi.
  
  
• Banning the most harmful commercial fishing practices such as bottom trawling on seamounts and set netting in the habitat of endangered seabirds and dolphins.
  
  
• Restoring the health of the Hauraki Gulf/Tīkapa Moana/Te Moananui ā Toi by urgently phasing out the most ecologically harmful commercial fishing practices.
  
  
• Investing up to $50 million to help fishers transition to more sustainable fishing methods.
  
  
• Introduce comprehensive marine spatial planning to ensure a strategic approach is used to manage our marine spaces, including allocation of space for aquaculture, fishing, and other uses.
  
  
• Supporting robust and well-resourced monitoring and enforcement of fisheries and marine protection rules, and accelerating the implementation of cameras on boats.
  
  
• Ensuring less plastic ends up in our oceans by phasing out low quality, non-recyclable plastic, and ensuring higher value plastics are recovered and recycled on-shore in Aotearoa New Zealand.
  
  
• Supporting local marine conservation efforts with $10m a year for a Community Coastline Clean-up Fund.
  
  
• Working internationally to support the progress toward a Global Oceans Treaty. 

With our Thriving Oceans Plan we want to be able to see seabirds soaring overhead, kelp forests thriving and seas abundant with fish and marine life. It will mean your kids and grandkids can scramble over rock pools and see more species than you did when you were a child, rather than less. And it will create a balanced ecosystem with plenty of kaimoana in sparkling clean waters. 

Sign on in support, and help us protect our oceans so we can enjoy them now, and in the future.  

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