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A salmon farming centre belonging to New Zealand King Salmon. (Photo: Antoinette Bruno, The NZ King Salmon Company)
New Zealand King Salmon pushes forward with expansion efforts
NEW ZEALAND
Tuesday, August 28, 2012, 23:40 (GMT + 9)
New Zealand King Salmon (NZKS) could increase its output from about 8,750 tonnes a year to 22,000 if its application to develop nine new fish farms in the Marlborough Sounds is approved, announced aquaculture general manager Mark Preece.
This week, an Environmental Protection Authority hearing opened to consider an application by the company for a required plan change and resource consents.
King Salmon’s move to expand came as a result of the climbing demand for farmed salmon and the firm’s inability to supply it, said operations and contracts manager Mark Gillard, who managed the project.
The project entails obtaining new farms in Queen Charlotte and Pelorus Sounds and Port Gore in the outer Sounds, where the Marlborough District Council had decided to ban fish farming, The Marlborough Express reports.
When the company looked into turning its mussel farms into salmon farms in 1998, it found that of the 500 farms, only one might have met key criteria.
Gillard stated the board that the proposed sites were mostly:
- Deep because there was more space to farm fish;
- Cool so fish efficiently converted feed to flesh and stayed healthy;
- Fast-flowing to wash away waste and prevent it from settling;
- Sheltered so cages were not damaged by swells;
- Distant from significant landscapes, homes and beaches;
- Unlikely to clash with other water activities like boating, fishing and tourism.
To help NZKS farms assimilate with the landscape, camouflage colours would be used for nets and the barges where staff lived and fish feed was kept, Preece said.
Further, barges would be smaller than originally planned.
New Zealand King Salmon is thereby opening the way for the iwi to be allocated marine farming space, lawyer Derek Nolan said.
"For every hectare of space approved . . . for NZKS, an equivalent of 20 per cent of that space will be made available to iwi elsewhere," Nolan said.
Meanwhile, opponents of the expansion argue that an estimated almost NZD 900 million (USD 729.1 million) benefit to the Marlborough Sounds from extra salmon farm developments could cost New Zealand its international reputation, Radio New Zealand reports.
"There is a huge, overwhelming body globally who buy our products and do not see salmon farming as not being an environmentally friendly practice. And you compare the carbon footprint of producing their fish - it is probably one of the highest footprints that you'll find in an industry," said Danny Boulton, chair of environmental group Sustain our Sounds.
Boffa Miskell Ltd Director Sarah Dawson provided details of the plan change needed for NZKS to build its new farms and the conditions the company would have to meet.
The hearing is anticipated to last for 10 weeks.
Related article:
- New Zealand King Salmon faces efforts to halt its expansion
By Natalia Real
[email protected]
www.seafood.media
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