Iwi Activities - Aquaculture
  • MUSSEL FARM – Ngahiwi Tomoana

The first line of the first open water mussel farm, of the first large scale and probably only aquaculture venture in Hawkes Bay in the largest area of water consented space in the whole country was installed between the 15th and 19th of February by Elaine Bay Aquaculture (EBA) on behalf of Ngati Kahungunu Iwi Incorporated (NKII).   Digger Karauria represented NKII while Jenny Mauger and Rangi Spooner represented hapu on board the Innovator, the barge that installed the line.

To recap, Napier Mussels Ltd (NMA) owns the resource consent for the 2548 ha (approx 7,000 acres), NMA is 40% owned by NKII, 20% by NZ Seafarms and 40% by Tasman Mussels (TML) which in turn is 68% owned by Sealord Shellfish.  Sealord, through its restructuring process, decided not to invest any further in new mussel ventures and actively sought prospective buyers for a large part of its mussel operations.  Why?  Several factors;

  • Although mussel commodity prices have increased incrementally over the past few years, these rises had been neutralized or negativized due to the high NZ dollar rate against the US dollar, and the fierce corrosive supply competition amongst this countries growers.
  • Sealord is changing its image from being a fisher, a processor and farmer, to being a “brand” hence the selling of the fish factory ships, shutting processing plants (Dunedin) and looking at realising other key assets such as fish and mussel farms.
  • The extremely complex nature of the Aquaculture Reform Act, makes any new developments in aquaculture almost impossible.
  • TML’s minority shareholders (a group of about 12 independant mussel farmers in the top of the South Island) could not raise the capital to service all the applications they had in the pipeline for development, (Te Arawa, Whakatohea, Turanga Nui a Kiwa, Hauraki).

That left NKII two options to wallow in the limbo of indecision while the rest of the industry caught up, or put a stake in the water.

Its history now that we put a stake, or more accurately about 40 tonnes of concrete blocks in the water to anchor the latest world technology in aquaculture.  What are the pitfalls?  There are many, including:

 

  • The mussels wont grow.
  • The commodity price crashes and the NZ dollar rises further against the US dollar.
  • A storm wrecks the structure.
  • A boat sinks getting caught up in the structure.
  • Environmental damage.
  • A whale gets caught up in the lines and many other.
  • The cost of insuring against such eventualities was almost as much as the mussel line itself.

 

What are the benefits:

 

  • We are now in the aquaculture business with a fish farmers licence.
  • We have ‘used it rather than losed it’ – the resource consent that is.
  • We have the largest single area of water space in the country for the next 30 years.
  • We have infrastructure investment that will maintain its value.
  • We are currently applying to vary the species able to farmed to include paua, kina, kingfish, snapper, crayfish and whelks.
  • 14-18 tonne is the harvest forecast in 12-15 months time.

 

The next 12 months will require intense monitoring for environmental, engineering, mussel quality and scientific analysis.  This is to be undertaken by Land Based and Under Water Engineering Services.

 

On Thursday the 10th of March, 77 people including 40 kaumatua visited the site of the Mussel Farm and were amazed and delighted to see Ngati Kahungunu’s name and logo dancing around on the ocean marking our first Mussel line. Thousands of fish were seen shoaling around the line. During the course of travel, people shared stories and experiences of the Mussel line. On our return to the Napier port, we traveled near the coast while Te Whanganui A Orotu Chairman Bevan Taylor, shared stories of Tangoio and the other great chiefs of old.

View the Catamaran Trip 2005

 

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