A Report on Possible Government Interventions to Promote the Sustainable Development of New Zealand’s Ocean Resources

Abstract

Oceans Policy is intended to promote the sustainable economic development of marine resources, whilst preserving the integrity of oceans ecosystems and social and cultural values of the oceans.To gain a practical understanding of the issues, barriers and opportunities facing development of economic activities in the ocean this investigation considered only a selection of cases, all pertaining to the energy sector, and representing a temporal spectrum from historic (the discovery and development of the Maui gas and oil field) through contemporary (current oil and gas exploration and development) and near-term (wave and tidal electricity generation) to far-term (gas hydrate mining and conversion). These cases, in turn, spanned the full range of anticipated activities from fully commercial to future-focussed potential activity.