The New Zealand seafood industry works under a structure comprising Sector Representative Entities (SREs), Seafood New Zealand, a central, cooperative company established to provide a range of services to the seafood industry, and Seafood Strategy New Zealand. The relationships between these various components of the industry are shown in the diagram below.
This governance structure was implemented on 1 October 2012. Seafood New Zealand has taken over much of the operational role of The New Zealand Seafood Industry Council (SeaFIC), and SREs have been established to represent groupings of stocks incorporating some of the work previously undertaken by Commercial Stakeholder Organisations (CSOs) and some sector-specific work previously undertaken by SeaFIC.
Initially, Seafood New Zealand will be funded by a mix of direct contribution from SREs and the existing Commodity Levy, which expires in March 2013. After March 2013 funding of Seafood New Zealand will be by direct contribution only. Some SREs are working to establish their own commodity levy orders to take over their funding.