An expert on marine farming says moves to free up a bottleneck in aquaculture licences is good news for Maori and the country as a whole.
The government intends to legislate changes to the regional coastal plans in Tasman and Waikato.
In other regions, the Ministry of Fisheries will work with councils to improve sustainable aquaculture development opportunities.
Policy manager at the Waikato Regional Council, Vaughan Payne, says the council welcomes the move.
He told Waatea News that the Government wanted to short cut the process of going through Environment Court appeals, and while not everyone will be happy, it's a good thing from "a big picture point of view".
Mr Payne says the changes will allow a stalled development in the Wilson's Bay marine farming zone in the Firth of Thames to go ahead, as well as a major offshore development planned by Whakatohea in the eastern Bay of Plenty.
