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Industry mussels up
Mussel farming presents
opportunities
for economic
growth.
Mike Burrell, head of the new fish farming group, New Zealand Aquaculture Ltd, is aiming for industry sales of $1 billion by 2025, and part of his plan is to be environmentally sustainable.
“It is easy to talk about sustainability and much harder to put it into practice. We would kind of like to see ourselves as the guinea pig. If you can’t make economic and environmental sustainability work for the aquaculture sector I don’t think there is a sector you could make it work for,” he said.
According to Burrell, the industry plans to grow through innovation, product development and by getting better value out of existing products. For example, by growing a better mussel and different variaties that can go to a wider range of markets or through charging a special price for special products such as green shell mussels.
The industry is also proposing an environmental sustainability quality mark which would assure customers that if they eat this product the environmental footprint is sound.
“We want to be on the front foot of sustainability. We think it is a fundamental shift in the way consumers buy and we believe the only way to compete internationally is to produce high quality and high value products. If our whole environmental footprint is less than our competitors we shouldn’t be penalised for air miles.”
Government supports the development of sustainable aquaculture and will announce a response to the sector strategy in April. Last week, it opened a $2.9 million aquaculture fund to help regional councils and unitary authorities with marine farm planning. Of this fund, $2 million is available on a contestable basis over the next five years.
Environment Bay of Plenty is processing two applications for mussel farms. Senior Coastal Planner Aileen Lawrie said the Council has conducted extensive work (partly funded by the Ministry of Economic Development) to investigate how many mussels can be sustained and to identify suitable places for the farms.
Mike Burrell, aiming for
$1 billion sales.
“We worked out how the bay functions in terms of currents, food availability and so on and then put in different scenarios of mussel farms and ran the model. Substantial work was involved in putting the model together as a lot of measuring and data collection had to be done,” Lawrie said.
Maps showing cultural or ecological areas of value were created by investigating marine mammals, seabirds, life on the seabed and other factors such as landscape and amenities.
Mussels take food out of the water which could impact on the local ecology. So the amount of phytoplankton (mussel food) was measured to determine the carrying capacity of the area for mussels and existing marine life.
“There are two questions really: how much? and where? The mapping answers the ‘where’ question by guiding us away from sensitive areas, such as areas of cultural or ecological importance. The science modelling answers the ‘how much’ question,” said Lawrie.
For more information contact Kevin Currie on (04) 439 7590 or email kevin.currie@mfe.govt.nz
Photos courtesy of New Zealand Aquaculture.
