An environmental umbrella group says the Government has been neglecting New Zealand's Exclusive Economic Zone.
ECO, which represents 62 organisations, says the Government has been promising to protect the zone since 1999.
It says nothing has been done, and now thqt Parliament has risen for the election it may not happen at all.
The Exclusive EconomIc Zone stretches up to 370 kilometres from New Zealand's coast.
ECO says mining companies are staking out the area without any consideration of whether mining is a suitable activity there.
It says there are more controls on the high seas than in New Zealand's own waters offshore.
