NZ's first open ocean salmon farm approved for King Salmon

New Zealand King Salmon has announced its plan for the country's first open ocean salmon farm will go ahead after nine years of regulatory challenges.

The farm was predicted to yield up to $300 million a year in export earnings.

The farm called Blue Endeavour will be located in the Cook Strait, around 7km from Cape Lambert in the Marlborough Sounds. It will consist of 20 large pens of salmon as well as a barge to feed them.

Until now, salmon farms have been located inland, near the shore but climate change meant water was warming and making farming there tough. The water in the Cook Strait was deeper and colder.

King Salmon chief executive Carl Carrington said approval was just the beginning and the next step was an 18-month monitoring programme for the site.

"This will provide a baseline of information, against which we can measure the impacts of a working salmon farm," Carrington said.

“The next step will be a ‘proof-of-concept’ phase, putting in the trial pens from June 2025. This is when it starts to get exciting from a farming point of view – building a smaller-scale pilot farm so that we can trial new infrastructure while monitoring the welfare of our salmon, to ensure they can thrive."

Once fully operational, the farm was expected to produce 10,000 metric tonnes of chinook salmon a year — with an export value of up to $300 million.

Carrington said the resource consent process was "very robust" involving government departments, iwi and local communities. There had been concerns over the years about the open ocean model and potential impact on the environment.

New Zealand King Salmon initially applied for consent in 2019 through the Marlborough District Council. Since then, it' had been through the Environment Court and an MPI assessment before the announcement today.

The approval was welcomed by Minister for Oceans and Fisheries Shane Jones who said it had taken too long to get to this point.

"There are currently too many hurdles causing delays for aquaculture projects, and these delays hurt our economy and the communities that rely on aquaculture."