To: Hon Eugenie Sage, Minister of Conservation
Date: 16 July 2020

At the Authority’s June 2020 meeting, the Auckland Conservation Board proposed, by way of their Authority liaison member, the need for a National Ocean Strategy to bring cohesion between activities in the marine space.

The Authority agree that a National Ocean Strategy would provide the national direction required to ensure continued and progressive good practice in marine conservation. Recent work in this space has seen a number of plans and strategies come into effect, and we anticipate further progress to be made in the upcoming marine protected areas reform work.

These recent and upcoming initiatives will require unity, given the interconnected nature of the marine environment. We support a strategy to unify this work and note the need for a champion to sit across agencies to ensure an agreed national strategy.

No reira
E noho ora mai

Edward Ellison ONZM
Chairperson NZCA