George Clement new Chair of Seafood New Zealand
George Clement was elected as the new Executive Chair of Seafood New Zealand at its most recent board meeting.
George graduated from the University of Canterbury with a BSc (Hons). He began work in Wellington in 1976 as a fisheries
management scientist within the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, working on the development of pelagic fisheries
particularly for skipjack tuna, gaining his Inshore Fishing Skipper’s and Commercial Scuba Diving qualifications.
In 1987 he left to work on Maori fishing rights under the Treaty of Waitangi claims and established Clement and
Associates Limited, which is well known for its independent expertise in fisheries in New Zealand and overseas.
He was also instrumental in the application of highly detailed seabed mapping within New Zealand waters and in the
Indian and Atlantic Oceans.
George promoted the establishment of The Orange Roughy Company which led to quota owners taking an active role in the
science, development and sustainable management of New Zealand’s orange roughy fisheries, culminating in their
assessment under the Marine Stewardship Council’s sustainable fisheries programme this year. This in turn led to the
establishment of the Deepwater Group a decade ago, with George as CEO. He will continue in this role.
George also served as President of the Fishing Industry Association.
He is a Fisheries Advisor to the Prince of Wales Trust’s International Sustainability Unit.
He sees the main challenges in his new role as demonstrating to the New Zealand public that the sustainable management
of our fisheries is world leading.
George replaces Eric Barratt.
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