The Department of Conservation has reissued temporary permits for shark cage diving operators off Stewart Island following their initial cancellation, despite the issue remaining unresolved in court. Doc southern South Island operations director Allan Munn said the department was not in a position to grant the new applications before the shark cage diving season started on December 1.
However, operators were now allowed to work under the "status quo" while the permit process was worked through.
"We have now issued permits which will run through until the end of the shark cage diving season in August 2017 or until the High Court makes its ruling on the permitting process," Mr Munn said.
However, an operator of the activity says the department "must do better" and issue renewals on time.
Shark Experience owner Mike Haines, of Bluff, said he had been working his shark cage diving operation off Stewart Island for the past two weeks, and the permits should have been issued on December 1.
"We applied for them in April and there has been eight months of inactivity of processing.
"They should have just got on with it," Mr Haines said.
He urged them to issue longer-term permits, or issue renewals on time.
The High Court was considering if the department had the authority to issue permits for shark cage diving, and if so, whether it should consider public safety when issuing permits, he said. The terms and conditions of the permits would remain the same, with the added condition from the middle of February 2017, when operators would be required to install video cameras on their vessels.
The footage must be made available to the department on request.
"This will give us a good opportunity to further scrutinise how the activity is carried out and see whether any changes are needed to the code of practice," Mr Munn said.
"The process for issuing the permits has been complex and further complicated by the legal proceedings before the High Court.
"We have always tried to balance everyone’s interests and our responsibility is ultimately to ensure the sharks are not harmed by this activity."
Mr Haines said the delay had made making business decisions more difficult.
"You’re not going to go out and invest or spend money until you know you’ve got some security," he said
