Environment Bay of Plenty’s Aquaculture Management Area Project began in 2002. The project’s goal is to identify opportunities for AMAs in the Bay of Plenty region. 

The project is made up of two parts – Coastal Use and Value Maps; and the Offshore Science Project. Together they will give us a good understanding of the Bay of Plenty marine area and help us to decide where new AMAs might go.

Coastal Use and Value Maps (previously called Offshore Use Maps) show all the values and uses associated with the Bay of Plenty coast, e.g. commercial shipping lanes, marine reserves and culturally significant areas. By mapping these, it gives a good picture of where it might be appropriate to have an AMA.

A set of draft maps went through an intensive consultation process between November 2005 and March 2006. The consultation included a mail out to more than 250 people and interest groups, four public workshops, and numerous hui and presentations. Due to the amount of feedback received, it was a lengthy process to go through all the suggested changes and to complete the maps, but they are now finished.

Below is an interactive map. From the index you can click on different layers of the map to view. To get back to the index, click on the 'Index' box at the bottom right of each page. To get further information on each map, click on the 'Select for more info' box under the legend.

AMA Coastal Use and Value Map - Interactive PDF

3MB

PDF

The Offshore Science Project has looked at things like the ecological effects of aquaculture and the amount of food (phytoplankton) in the water.

One of the tools being used in the research is a wave buoy.  The wave buoy sits 13 km off the coast of Pukehina and gathers data on the ocean’s current and waves. The buoy will continue to collect data for a number of years. Follow the link to find the measurements the Wave Buoy is taking.

• Wave Buoy data

Field surveys from mid 2003 through to 2004 intensively sampled things like seafloor sediments, water chemistry, seafloor biology and phytoplankton. During the same period a current meter and temperature sensors were also used at a number of locations.

The information collected from the field surveys, current meter and temperature sensors helped with the development of models by ASR Limited to predict productivity and the impact of aquaculture.

The following are the completed field survey reports:

	Bay of Plenty Shelf Water Properties Data Report 2003-2004	3MB	PDF
	Bay of Plenty Coastal Water Quality 2003 – 2004	2KB	HTML
	Bay of Plenty Current and Temperature Measurements, Aquaculture Management Areas	2MB	PDF
	Bay of Plenty Sediment Characteristics: Aquaculture Management Areas	3MB	PDF
	Bay of Plenty Biological Survey: Aquaculture Management Areas	1.3MB	PDF
	Numerical Hydrodynamic Modelling: Aquaculture Management Areas	1.6MB	PDF
	NIWA Remote Sensing Report	1MB	PDF
	Bay of Plenty AMA Remote Sensing Report	1.9MB	PDF

Primary production modelling and impacts of AMAs on productivity

	Bay of Plenty Primary Production Modelling: Aquaculture Management Areas	2.8MB	PDF
	Mussel Farm Impacts - Surface water	602KB	PDF
	Mussel Farm Impacts - 15m water depth	799KB	PDF
	Mussel Farm Impacts - 25m water depth	762KB	PDF
	Bay of Plenty Primary Production Modelling: Influence of climate variation and change	2.3MB	PDF

We also had the hydrodynamic and primary production modelling reports peer reviewed as follows:

	Cawthron Peer Review	54KB	PDF
	NIWA Peer Review	582KB	PDF
	ASR Response to Peer Reviews	118KB	PDF

If you have trouble downloading any of these reports, we can provide you with a CD of the reports in PDF format.

November 2006 - late 2007 - Discussions with the aquaculture industry, iwi, and other stakeholders  about possible AMA locations

early 2008 - Council  will decide how and where it plans to create AMAs

early 2008 - mid 2008 - Consultation with the public on proposed AMA plan provisions