Southern Clams managing director Roger Belton yesterday confirmed the company had withdrawn its bid for resource consent for a marine farm in the harbour.
He blamed the ''frustrating'' resource consent process and the feeling its outcome was predetermined.
The decision ended Southern Clams' third attempt to secure consent for the marine farm, after two earlier bids were rejected by the ORC due to a lack of information.
The company had hoped to farm in three locations in Otago Harbour, spread over about 20ha, with about 20% of that area to be used at any time.
The farm was to be used to finish off 2 year old oysters farmed by the New Zealand Bluff Oyster Co in Bluff Harbour.
Mr Belton said the project represented a ''valid and sustainable'' use of natural resources, and had the potential to create ''a half dozen to a dozen jobs'' - with room to grow - in Dunedin.
However, it seemed the ORC had already decided the outcome of the process, although ''they didn't say it in as many words'', he claimed.
Their modus operandi ''appears to be one of simply maintaining the status quo'', he said.
''It is tough. I don't think they have committed to engaging on this in a way that is appropriate,'' he said.
''The Ministry for Primary Industries has committed to doubling exports by 2025, but at a regional council level we have got a regional council that doesn't seem to want to entertain the possibility of granting consents to facilitate this.
''It's time we stopped being parochial and started being a bit more imaginative in our region.''
ORC director of policy planning and resource management Fraser McRae, contacted by the Otago Daily Times, rejected any suggestion the council wanted to maintain the status quo.
That perception had ''certainly not come from this council'', he insisted.
''It's something they have created.''
He was ''somewhat surprised'' the application had been withdrawn, after public notification in February led to 44 submissions, including 32 opposed to the project.
''There had been a few submissions come in, some of those raised concerns. Next thing we heard was the application was withdrawn,'' he said.
The company's actions were premature, he believed.
''There's a consent officer that's been processing this application for them . . . by all means come in and talk about matters,'' he urged.
Opposition to the project had come from Port Otago, as well as Te Runanga o Otakou, several yacht clubs, including the Port Chalmers Yacht Club, and some Dunedin residents.
Mr Belton said he had hoped the ORC - which owned Port Otago - could have helped facilitate a consultative process between the parties.
It would have been ''heartening'' to witness a commitment to regional development from the ORC, but ''there has been no attempt made by the ORC to do this'', he said.
Mr McRae said it was ''unfair'' to expect the regional council to aid consultation between Port Otago and Southern Clams.
''It's their application, it's their work to do that,'' he said.
''We have been neutral in our relationship through this application.''
Mr Belton said the ORC was also unwilling to consider seeking advice from the Marlborough District Council, which had experience dealing with marine farm applications, despite Southern Clams' offer to pay.
Mr Belton said the ORC had rejected the idea because any expert from Marlborough would not be familiar with the regional plan for the Otago coast - something Mr McRae said he had no knowledge of.
Further muddying the waters was the fate of the as yet undecided application for a mataitai - a marine reserve controlled by tangata whenua - in Otago Harbour by Otakou runanga.
The runanga opposed Southern Clams' marine farm plans, but both parties were still waiting for a decision on the mataitai application lodged in 2008.
Mr Belton said the six year wait was ''a long time for nothing to happen'', but attempts to contact the Ministry for Primary Industries yesterday were unsuccessful.
But the latest obstacles did not necessarily spell the end for the marine farm project.
Mr Belton indicated the company would resubmit its application ''when the present obstacles become more transparent''.
''These sheltered waters are good for more than recreational fishing and as a shipping lane,'' he said.
