As frustration grows among conservationists about the delay, the Department of Conservation says it is important to take the time to get things right.
Doc management planning manager Rebecca Bird said no decisions had been made on the proposal for six marine reserves, and a series of other protected marine areas, along the southeast coast of the South Island.
Since public consultation closed in 2020, Government agencies had been focused on engagement with treaty partner Ngai Tahu, to allow for their involvement and input into the marine protection network "and ensure statutory obligations are met", Ms Bird said.
"There’s a lot of work involved in understanding and considering the views of mana whenua and all stakeholders for this large and complex marine protection proposal and it’s important that we take the time to get this right."
The South-East Marine Protection Forum was created in 2014 by the former Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy and Conservation Minister Nick Smith in order to establish a series of marine reserves from Waipapa Point, in Southland, north to Timaru, in South Canterbury.
The forum included about a dozen members from a range of sectors, as well as Ngai Tahu representatives, and after extensive consultation in 2016, it produced two alternative networks of marine reserves and other marine protected areas for Government consideration, in 2018.
One network was backed by the science, tourism, environmental and community representatives on the forum. The other had the backing of the three commercial fishing representatives.
The two recreational fishing representatives were split in their views.
Ngai Tahu did not oppose either of the two networks as long as a generational review was agreed to and there was co-management of the protected areas.
As the creation of the marine reserves progressed, in 2019, former Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage and Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash gave the go ahead to the larger network backed by scientists and conservationists and another round of consultation followed the next year.
A proactively released Cabinet Paper from the time said after the 2020 consultation concluded the process to establish the marine protection network would take about 18 months. It has now been more than 25 months since consultation concluded.
New Zealand’s biodiversity implementation plan, published in April this year, says implementation of the marine reserves network for the southeastern coast would be "progressed" by the end of this year.
However, it also says Doc, MPI and Ngai Tahu would not establish the required "enduring rohe-based co-management structure" for the marine reserve networks, and the funding of Ngai Tahu rangers until the end of 2024.
Likewise, the way the agencies provided for the dissemination of matauranga Maori, or the traditional knowledge of the areas, would not be implemented until the end of 2024, either.
Meanwhile, spatial planning for open-ocean aquaculture along the South Island’s east coast was due to begin this year.
Forum environment representative Sue Maturin said she did not know what was behind the present delay but she feared considerations could include reducing the size of the marine reserve network accepted by the ministers two years ago.
One particularly contentious area was the 96sq km Te Umu Koau Marine Reserve that included Bobbys Head and the entirety of the Stony Creek and Pleasant River estuaries, she said.
The biodiversity hotspot was a feeding ground for yellow-eyed penguins, but it was also where a lot of crayfish were caught.
"There’s no transparency in the process, so it’s just immensely frustrating," she said. "People gave up their lives, we had endless meetings.
"Some people put hours and hours of voluntary time into the whole process of coming up with the proposals and went through several rounds of consultation."
Ms Bird said the delay for Doc and Fisheries New Zealand was due to a range of factors, including Covid-19.
The agencies were continuing work on the advice that would be taken to the Conservation and Oceans and Fisheries ministers.
There had been detailed analysis of the more than 4000 submissions received during the public consultation process in 2020, she said.
Otakou runaka upoko Edward Ellison, who was also a forum member, said while the pandemic had caused some delays, he believed it was "more so the complicated nature of the engagement process" with Ngai Tahu under way.
He could not comment on the specifics of the process while it was ongoing but he said there was a range of positions within Ngai Tahu that had to be worked through.
Over the past two or three years, there had been quite constructive discussions with Doc and MPI and both central Ngai Tahu and the local runanga, he said.
It had taken some time to develop and refine the mechanisms that were raised during the engagement process, but it was also fair to say there were still outstanding issues, he said.
