News and Events

Mahurangi Technical Institute Speech

25 May 2007 - Speech by Fisheries Minister Jim Anderton at aquaculture centre opening

Since this is an eel research facility, I hope it doesn’t reduce the reputation of eels to compare them to politicians − but I’m reminded of the story about why eels are different to politicians: One is a slippery, slimey bottom-feeder. The other is a fish.

I'm very pleased to welcome the opening of this new facility. I'll tell you why this place is important: It's about the development of our aquaculture industry, and aquaculture has almost limitless potential for New Zealand.

This facility is important because it's about building skills, knowledge and innovation. These are the ingredients that help us achieve value and higher living standards from our natural resources. And this facility is about world-class research in a region with exciting potential.

The United Nations produced a report recently where it looked at the world's growing demand for fish and seafood. Populations are growing. Consumers are becoming more health conscious and looking to replace fattier proteins with fish in their diets. So the experts say that demand for seafood around the world will grow by a third in the next ten years. There is no way in which that demand can be met from stocks of wild fish in the oceans. If we tried to, fishing stocks would collapse.

So the increased demand will be met from aquaculture. It's the fastest-growing sector of our seafood industry. Already aquaculture has sales worth around a million dollars a day − and the industry wants it to grow to be worth a billion dollars a year − i.e. $3 million per day − to New Zealand in less than twenty years.

We're seeing its growth in exciting ways. Earlier this year I went to a very tasty evening where a campaign was launched to market Marlborough sauvignon blanc and greenshell mussels together. They are delicious, distinctive flavours that build on both the strength of the local region there, and the world-class technology and skills involved in producing the wine and food.

We are seeing other examples of New Zealand regions developing very high value primary products. Ever since I was first persuaded to try smoked eel − during a regional visit to Northland a few years ago − I've known eel has real potential as a commercial crop for Northland.

In fact commercial eel fishing has gone on for a long time − and it has been a substantial industry since the mid-sixties. At one point in the nineteen seventies we had thirty-five small eel processing plants.

The eel farming industry is highly valued world-wide. In Tokyo there is a restaurant where eel dishes are so highly prized that there are two separate entrances: one for ordinary Japanese cuisine and another exclusively for eel dishes.

But the eel industry around the world is under threat from the uncertain supply of juvenile glass eels. We can't develop eel aquaculture until we can breed eels in captivity. So that makes this facility and the research it does very important.
Its pioneering work on the breeding of eels is impressive. It's among the top three institutes in the world in the area of research on breeding eels.

And it aims to be the first in the world to produce commercial quantities of eels in captivity. If we can succeed in this, we will be able to develop a self-sustaining eel farming industry. We won't hammer the wild eel population.

Eel aquaculture could potentially be New Zealand’s next big aquaculture species.

The government is very enthusiastic about supporting your efforts. Through the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology, the government has put in $630,000 to the Institute’s eel research as part of the Technology for Business Growth programme.

To date, New Zealand is farming only a few freshwater species on any significant commercial scale. We need to explore the aquaculture potential of new and higher-value species and this institute is working on developing a range of freshwater species, in addition to eels.

Its work includes a hatchery that produces juveniles of several species for supply to fish farms, including koura, grass carp, and silver carp.

This is a good example of how research and knowledge can lead to higher living standards. The world has no more natural resources than it did a hundred years ago − in fact, we arguably have fewer. We have no more water, land, minerals or energy. But our standard of living is so much higher it is unrecognisable. What changed in the last century is we have added knowledge to those ingredients at a staggering pace. And the more we add knowledge, the higher our standard of living grows and the better we can be at sustaining our resources.

In other words, if we want a higher standard of living, better incomes, jobs for our young people and a future for our regions, then we need to keep adding knowledge to our primary industries. If we want a high quality, high-value future, we need to keep innovating. We do that through science, research and skills.

It's as true of aquaculture as it is of any sector: Innovation, and partnerships to research and market products will be critical to growth. Aquaculture New Zealand has identified innovation and research as a top priority.

So we need to see not only institutions like this one doing high quality research and training, but we also need to see a close link between the institute and the aquaculture and seafood industries.

Alongside innovation and research, skills are vital for the future growth of the aquaculture and seafood industries. Skills developed here in practices like hatchery design, fish husbandry and water quality analysis are the foundation the future of the industry is built on.

These are high-technology industries and they require a skilled workforce, in fields ranging beyond aquaculture to marine biology, navigation, mechanical engineering and eco-tourism.

So I also welcome the focus of training at this institution on courses for maritime industries such as skippers' certificates, health and safety on boats, biosecurity inspections and marine technology.

And before I finish I also want to specially welcome the benefit this institute will have for Maori economic development. Eel have been here for eighty million years, so it's no surprise that long before Europeans sailed to New Zealand, Maori were catching and eating eels and trading in them. And eel is still on the table at any number of functions.

But I am especially excited about what aquaculture can mean for Maori in the future. In forty years over 40 percent of New Zealand's workforce will be of Maori or Pacific Island ancestry, so Maori economic development is New Zealand's economic development. We need Maori business to succeed and prosper, and in our seafood industries we are seeing some very strong stories of Maori success.
Aquaculture can take that success to a new level, helping economic development at both regional and national level and benefiting Maori communities directly.

So this institute contributes directly to some very important priorities for New Zealand − more skills, more research and innovation, stronger regions, a stronger base for Maori economic development and the emergence of our exciting aquaculture industry.

Achieving the research goals of growing eels in captivity won't be easy − one is tempted to make a pun about it being slippery. But the promise of success is the promise of making a very substantial difference. So it's my pleasure to wish you every success and all the very best with this new facility.

Media release at http://www.beehive.govt.nz/ViewDocument.aspx?DocumentID=29517