Research Projects
OneOceanNZ
Securing a healthy and productive ocean
OneOceanNZ is a research project that aims to contribute to a wider discussion on how we might best manage our oceans, and exercise stewardship in order to maintain a healthy and productive ocean.
The project aims to identify cost-effective public policy solutions for ocean governance. Oceans are a public space and provide a critical resource for current and future generations. We rely on our marine ecosystems to purify the air, store carbon, grow food, ship products and provide habitats for marine life. The oceans’ governance must therefore navigate a complex set of goals and objectives, and deliver cost-effective public policies that are measurable, transparent and able to be policed.
Interconnecting research projects
OneOceanNZ explores how New Zealand can use research and public policy to protect marine species and their habitats. This project therefore aligns and overlaps with the Institute’s BiodiversityNZ research project, as well as ClimateChangeNZ.
More detail
Global target to protect 30% of the ocean by 2030 (ongoing)
New Zealand has international commitments to improving our marine protection. However, there are concerns on how these are progressing. New Zealand signed the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework in December 2022, and the High Seas Biodiversity Treaty (also known as the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Treaty) in June 2023. These global treaties under the UN Convention on Biological Diversity and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea commit to protecting 30% of Earth’s oceans by 2030. As of 2025, less than 1% of New Zealand’s ocean territory is in Marine Protected Areas, despite the Government committing to meeting the global target of protecting 30% of the ocean by 2030.
Salmon farming in New Zealand (ongoing)
The combination of climate change and global tensions is putting pressure on companies to move from a global efficiency business model to a nationally self-sufficient business model. For the salmon industry, the changing climate has already had significant negative impacts on fish health and mortality, and the surrounding ecosystems.
Currently, the Institute has a particular focus on conservation efforts in the Cook Strait and Marlborough Sounds regions, due to an ongoing case study of New Zealand King Salmon’s (NZKS’s) application for consent for the Blue Endeavour farm. The Institute has developed a series of infographics highlighting key information about salmon farming and impacts on the surrounding environment. For more information on current and past legal decisions, previous research by the Institute on aquaculture and copies of active NZKS resource consents, see our work on Salmon farming.
Report 10 – One Ocean: Principles for the stewardship of a healthy and productive ocean (2015)
This report is an opportune and informative discussion paper produced at a time of heightened interest in the world’s oceans. As well as outlining the problem, this report also offers ideas on the way forward. It sets out a vision of a healthy and productive ocean and puts forward three overarching principles to govern decisions on how we might protect and use our oceans in the future.
Past work
Discussion Paper 2023/04 – Exploring the Role of Aquaculture in our Marine Space (2023)
Given the size and variety of New Zealand’s ocean territory, we decided to explore ocean management in the Marlborough Sounds, with a particular emphasis on the impacts of salmon feed (and the resulting faeces) on the environment. The only company that undertakes salmon farming in the Marlborough Sounds is New Zealand King Salmon (NZKS).
Discussion Paper 2022/02 – New Zealand King Salmon Case Study: A financial reporting perspective (2022)
In 2011 Parliament passed a range of aquaculture legislative reforms. That same year, New Zealand King Salmon made the first agricultural application of national significance to the newly established Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The EPA received 1294 submissions. As it was a coastal proposal, not a land-based proposal, it was up to the Minister of Conservation to decide whether the application submitted for resource consent was nationally significant – the Minister decided it was. The Board of Inquiry decision was published in 2013. The resulting 2014 Supreme Court decision continues to shape the future direction of Aotearoa New Zealand’s environmental law and policy. It seems timely to revisit the NZKS case ten years later, given that the country is now facing a number of crises, including a climate crisis and a biodiversity crisis.