Green Party would ban bottom trawling under its rivers and oceans policy package

The Green Party would ban bottom trawling and lower the nitrate limit for drinking water, under its rivers and oceans policy package.

The party said its 'Drink Swim Fish' election policy programme would deliver clean drinking water, swimmable rivers and beaches, and healthy oceans for all New Zealanders.

Co-leader Marama Davidson said clean, healthy water was a human right, but that was being "taken" from today's generations by weak rules allowing industrial scale exploitation.

"It is madness that in Aotearoa, up to 100,000 people become sick from unsafe drinking water every year, popular beaches and swimming spots are closed every summer, and our once common fish like our iconic tarakihi populations have been fished to the brink of collapse," she said.

The programme, made up of eight different policy 'interventions', had many similarities to what the Greens had been calling for throughout this Parliamentary term, and what it campaigned on in 2023.

The party still wanted to phase out bottom trawling on seamounts, set netting, and dredging, and it still wants to legally protect 30 percent of New Zealand's moana.

Davidson said better protection for oceans "isn't rocket science," and New Zealand did not need to accept "short-term private profits" above the health of its water.

"This should not be a debate, should not even need to be questioned, that our rivers should be healthy enough to swim in, that our drinking water should be safe to drink, and that our oceans are protected."

In 2023, the party campaigned on a Green minister of Oceans and Fisheries to ensure its policies would be implemented.

While the 2026 policy document does not make a similar call, Davidson said the Greens would "never apologise" for putting the health of the environment, rivers, and oceans first, and the party would be working to ensure it could put those priorities on the table after election night.

"We can see already that this is a bottom line from the people. People are standing up in opposition to the ongoing exploitation and degradation of their favorite local places, their beaches. People are loud and clear, against that. So, these are the bottom lines of the communities, and it is the Greens who will fix the rules to meet those needs, to meet those expectations."

While the Greens wanted to "strengthen rules for wastewater discharges" to ensure swimmable rivers, lakes, and oceans, the policy document did not say precisely how.

Davidson explained the Greens would give the water regulator Taumata Arowai more power to enforce laws and compliance, and make it clear wastewater environmental performance standards were a minimum.

Similarly, the document did not set out the nitrate limits the Greens would set.

The current nitrate limit for drinking water is 11.3mg/L NO₃-N (nitrate-nitrogen).

Denmark agreed to lower limits to 1.3mg/L NO₃-N. Davidson said the Greens would look to do the same.

"They just recently changed theirs because they found also in their research what we are seeing, which is there is just too much of a risk for bowel cancer and other health impacts. It's just not good enough, and reducing nitrate levels is simply about putting the health of our rivers and our community first."

The policy document also included proposals to support kaitiakitanga Māori in marine management and iwi-led conservation and restoration efforts, and review the Quota Management System.