as well as overcrowding in popular diving locations.

Even though it is an invasive species, farming of wakame is permitted in already heavily infested areas of New Zealand, as part of a control program established since 2010. In 2012, the government allowed for the farming of wakame in Wellington, Marlborough and Banks Peninsula. Farmers of wakame must obtain permission from Biosecurity New Zealand to access approval of Sections 52 and 53 from the Biosecurity Act 1993, which deal with exceptions