Tag Archives: New Zealand’s fishing industry

Fish and chips may ‘double’ in price without fuel help

A major figure in New Zealand’s fishing industry warns more boats could be tied up and the price of fish and chips will double unless the sector gets the same fuel assistance given to others. Already Westfleet Seafoods’ 400 tonne trawler Tasman Viking has been tied up at Nelson’s port for a fortnight because of the spiraling cost of fuel. The company’s chief executive, Craig Boote, said that if the government did not play fair and apply fuel discounts to all New Zealand businesses the fishing industry could be on its knees in weeks. “Fuel is a huge component of our commercial operations and without a reduction the price of fish will unfortunately skyrocket,” he said. “The only other option is to tie boats up, which of course has a snowball effect, with onshore jobs in the factory, engineering and more, being negatively affected.”  >click to read<  09:02

A day in the life of a hoki fishing trawler crew

Johnny Thompson was an accountant in Auckland until a snowboarding accident changed his life. “I had it real bad for a start – those first few days were the worst – eventually I came right but everyone takes different amounts of time to get over it.” Thompson is now part of the crew aboard Sealord’s wetfish trawler Otakou , which Stuff joined for a 15-hour expedition for hoki in the Cook Canyon. The day begins at Picton’s Waitohi Wharf at 9am with a five-hour steam to the fishing grounds at the south eastern end of Cook Strait. However, once the vessel hits the open sea it is literally all hands on deck for all 14 crew members. video, >click to read< 17:50