Abstract
This article considers the Minister for the Environment of New Zealand’s proposal for new marine protected areas legislation. If enacted, this proposed legislation would repeal the existing Marine Reserves Act 1971 and replace it with an Act providing for four different types of marine protected areas (MPA) to be set aside following a Board of Inquiry or collaborative process. All four areas would be within New Zealand’s territorial seas, because of the Government’s stance that MPAs outside this area would breach international law. The author argues that the new legislation would represent no material change in the existing position, and that the Government’s position may be motivated by the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, rather than the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.