Aquaculture industry set to grow
By HAMISH RUTHERFORD - The Dominion Post
![3D"Aquaculture](3D"cid:1252936.surfulater.com")
SCOTT
HAMMOND/Marlborough Express
RICH POTENTIAL: The Clay Point fish farm in the Marlborough Sounds =
produces
2000 tonnes of mature chinook salmon a year for owner New Zealand King
Salmon.
With the Cook Strait ferries sailing gently past, Clay Point, one of five
operational farms owned by New Zealand King Salmon, is in full harvest mode.
About a hundred metres from the shores in Tory Channel, in the =
northeastern
reaches of the Marlborough Sounds, many thousands of chinook salmon – =
which its
owners market as King – are being captured and killed with near =
military
precision.
Dazed by a clover-based sedative, the fish are lifted scores at a time by
monsoon bucket from their cages on to a waiting barge, where a team of staff
bleed the salmon and pack them in ice.
Within a few hours, the fish will be in the company's Nelson processing =
plant
and headquarters; by the following morning the finest will be on a plane to =
the
United States or Japan. Many more will be processed into steaks and smoked
products, sold around New Zealand and the world.
Excluding the constant (and often only partly successful) battle to keep =
out
hungry seals, Clay Point is an almost perfect place to grow salmon to =
maturity.
About two degrees colder than the rest of the Sounds because of the strong =
tidal flows in Tory Channel, the waters are close to the ideal temperature =
for
taking smolt (juvenile salmon) to maturity, with an average harvest size
approaching 4 kilograms, and some fish growing to 6kg.
The farm covers just over a hectare of water surface, dropping about 30
metres below the water level, and produces 2000 tonnes of mature fish a year. =
Four more farms are dotted around other nearby channels, with the company
producing, for now, about 7500 tonnes a year of salmon. But if NZKS – =
and the
aquaculture industry – gets the reforms that have been promised, this =
will seem
like small beer in the future.
"Come back in a few years," Richard Miller, NZKS' fish performance =
analyst,
mused at Clay Point last week. "There could be a dozen of these."
Already New Zealand's largest integrated aquaculture company, with =
turnover
of about $100 million a year, NZKS is ready for investment that could at =
least
triple its size.
In April, the Government promised to free the reins on an industry that
describes the years under Labour as the "lost decade".
Since 2004, when the Resource Management Act was modified, no new space =
has
been set aside for aquaculture, and without change none was likely to be set
aside in the near future.
The industry blames the lack of progress on a string of factors.
The costs of researching whether areas would be appropriate for =
aquaculture
have fallen on regional councils, providing little incentive, especially =
given
that some residents may oppose developments.
Companies can apply for areas to be designated for aquaculture, but, if
approved, there would be no guarantee they would be allocated the space over
rivals.
There was also no guarantee that any approval would last long enough to
provide a sufficient return on investment.
The gripes also extend to existing licence holders, the majority being =
mussel
farmers, who complain that the regulatory hurdles for converting to farm more =
lucrative species, namely finfish such as salmon, are too tough.
After months of deliberation over how to approach the subject, the =
Government
promised an overhaul.
The Government has vowed to streamline the Resource Management Act, =
establish
a dedicated aquaculture section within the Fisheries Ministry and give the =
final
call on applications to central government.
Fisheries Minister Phil Heatley threw his support behind a plan to triple =
the
sales of the industry to more than $1 billion by 2025.
"I can't overestimate how enthusiastic the cabinet is to see reforms go
through to set that industry free to achieve what it can for New Zealand," he =
told the Seafood Industry Council's annual conference last month.
The Government has identified that aquaculture could develop into a major
industry with relatively little support.
Some in the industry are sceptical after previous attempts at reform led =
to
little change.
"There are some people here who said `We've heard this all before,' but I
haven't been here long enough to get jaded," NZKS chief executive Grant
Rosewarne said.
Mr Rosewarne, an Australian, joined the company last November, and is =
bullish
about its prospects.
Confident that it could increase sales of king salmon, while retaining a
price premium over the more common Atlantic variety, NZKS would be prepared =
to
invest up to $50 million over a decade or so to build another 10 farms around =
the Sounds, if it were allowed to, he said.
The company estimates that its products, which retail for around $29 a
kilogram in New Zealand, demand a premium of around 30 per cent over Atlantic =
salmon in markets such as the United States and Japan.
Peter Vitasovich, chairman of Aquaculture New Zealand, pointed to the =
success
of NZKS as an example of how little space would need to be allocated to =
create a
high-value industry.
"With not a vast amount space you could have a three or four hundred
million-dollar operation."
Admitting that a string of legislative changes since the 1970s had left =
the
industry cynical about reform, he said recent progress suggested there was =
real
potential for change.
"This isn't a hurried, shoddy piece of legislation that we've been working =
from in the past."
Mr Vitasovich, who farms mussels in the Coromandel, said reform would not
lead to an explosion in the number of fish farms because of the cost and risk =
involved.
"It's not going to be a gold rush. A lot of planning goes into this =
because
it's a very big investment; this legislation isn't about going out willy =
nilly
putting more fish farms everywhere, it's not about filling up the coast =
line."
Mr Vitasovich said the industry needed certainty over its future to =
promote
research that would lead to benefits in the years to come.
"Look at the amount of money that was invested in new grasses for dairy, =
new
trees for the timber industry, different apple varieties. If that money =
wasn't
invested 15 or 20 years ago, we wouldn't have the strong industries we have
today.
"We have to start planning now, and investing now, for a strong industry =
in
15, 20 years' time."