Despite being a maritime country, New Zealand has not come out with a concrete Ocean Policy unlike its neighbour Australia.
Australia’s Ocean Policy, released in 1998, has integrated the role of its Defence forces in protecting and managing the ecologically sustainable development of fisheries, shipping, tourism, petroleum, gas and seabed resources while ensuring the conservation of the marine environment.
New Zealand has yet to define how its Ocean Territory will be managed and even the Defence White Paper released in November 2010 has been silent on the subject.
It is important for New Zealand to have an Ocean Policy linked to its defence policy.
The country has many international treaty obligations, such as search and rescue, and hydrography, which justify such a policy. It would also signal internationally this country’s policies and obligations on matters of rights of free passage, pollution, resource extraction and compliance with the other precepts of UN Convention of the Law of the Sea (1982) as a responsible international citizen.
Further, being a maritime country, New Zealand should have the ocean management security to be integrated with in its Defence rather than with the Environment ministry, as is the case now.
New Zealand’s Resource Management Act (RMA) of 1991 provides the framework for development of major national resource and environmental management polices.
The area surrounding New Zealand is rich in minerals, which are of interest to China and the US.
It is therefore appropriate for New Zealand to integrate its maritime resources through the Defence ministry, and integrate its resource management with Defence Strategy.
There is a case for the New Zealand government to revisit the Maritime Doctrine of the Royal New Zealand Navy published in 1997.
Balaji Chandramohan is our Correspondent based in Delhi.
