ELI is concerned to see many stocks in the current consultation round are showing significant signs of decline or collapse, yet options proposed are not always sufficient to enable recovery. In particular, some of the consultation papers present status quo options even where the material indicates that existing catch settings are causing decline.

Fisheries New Zealand (FNZ) has not provided a detailed analysis of why status quo options continue to be presented even where sustainability issues have been flagged. Where the evidence indicates that current settings are not achieving the sustainability outcomes required under the Act, maintaining those settings is not a lawful or acceptable management response.

While ELI welcomes the decision to make the Otago Peninsula set-net closure permanent, we are deeply concerned by the decision to set a Fishing Related Mortality Limit of four hoiho deaths per year in areas outside of the closure.

SNA 2 is a major New Zealand inshore fisheries management area for snapper (Pagrus auratus), stretching along the east coast of the North Island from Gisborne down to Wellington/Makarā.

In ELI’s view, two of the three Options as currently developed present significant risks of kina barren proliferation, as has occurred within SNA 1. Emerging science on Snapper predation on kina provides strong support for the need to avoid kelp loss to prevent ecosystem collapse.

ELI submits that the NZ ETS settings should be designed to ensure genuine emissions reductions, including by limiting new unit supply as much as practicable to help address the NZU stockpile. We also submit that decision-makers continue to consider New Zealand’s climate international obligations, and that annual ETS settings decisions should be retained to allow timely and responsive adjustments.

ELI has submitted on the Conservation Amendment Bill 2026.

This Bill is of pre-eminent significance. It appears that the amendments would enable, and possibly encourage, activities and decisions inconsistent with conservation. ELI does not support this outcome and opposes the legislation proposed in full. The Bill should be withdrawn.

The Bill is an extraordinary and unjustified intervention in live proceedings, and lacks any substantive rationale beyond shielding specific defendants to a civil claim. It undermines access to justice and public confidence in the rule of law.

ELI submits that the Bill should not proceed.

On the 14^th July, the seafood industry is appealing against our landmark High Court win, ELI v Director-General of the Ministry of Primary Industries and others - and we’ll be there to defend it.

Many marine species have declined in the last thirty years, due in significant part, to being caught as bycatch in commercial fishing.

We welcome a significant High Court win, after the Court declared the Minister for Oceans and Fisheries’ previous orange roughy catch limit decision unlawful.

The Ombudsman has upheld ELI’s complaint.
The report finds the Prime Minister's Office has acted unreasonably.

In light of this, ELI says the Government need to pull the Climate Change Response (Tort Liability) Amendment Bill. It is clear the Bill is not in the public interest.

In June 2026 we lodged a formal submission on the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Amendment Bill.

At the close of a four-day High Court hearing challenging the government’s under-levying of the fishing industry, the Environmental Law Initiative (ELI) says more science, research and observer coverage is needed to protect marine wildlife and ecosystems from the impacts of fishing.

The Environmental Law Initiative will challenge the Ministers for Oceans and Fisheries and the Minister of Conservation in the Wellington High Court from 15 - 18 June over cuts to the fisheries observer programme and the undersized levy charged to the fishing industry.

In the winter months, long-lived orange roughy assemble to spawn. In recent decades, orange roughy stocks have collapsed.

Yesterday, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced a partial closure of an area in the East and West Chatham Rise for a 6-week period in response.

A new report commissioned by ELI shows that Wetlands in Aotearoa continue to be converted into farmland, forestry and other modified land uses, despite strengthened national protections introduced in 2020.

The Environmental Law Initiative (ELI) is calling for an Ombudsman inquiry and a Solicitor-General review following revelations that the Prime Minister’s Office suppressed significant lobbying by Fonterra, Z Energy and others that contributed to the Government’s move to block Mike Smith’s climate case from being heard in the High Court.  

The Environmental Law Initiative (ELI) says it is deeply concerned that the Government’s proposed changes to climate law will weaken the ability for people to hold powerful actors to account through the courts. 

The changes would prevent courts from hearing claims about climate harm, removing the fundamental right for people to have their day in court. 

New data obtained by the Environmental Law Initiative (ELI) shows 146 marine mammals, including numerous Hector’s dolphins, Dusky dolphins, and seals, have been killed inside Aotearoa New Zealand’s marine mammal sanctuaries over the past two fishing years.

We submit

The proposed changes substantially expand ministerial and executive discretion, weaken precautionary and ecosystem‑based protections, and reduce opportunities for public scrutiny and legal challenge.

We submit that DOC should consider the possibility of moving safe zones for marine mammals and spell out how it will achieve improved enforcement within Te Pēwhairangi Marine Mammal Sanctuary.