Trout farming should not be a part of government’s plan to strengthen the allocation and transfer process in the Maori
Commercial Aquaculture Claims Settlement Act 2004 says a trout and rivers advocacy the NZ Federation of Freshwater
Anglers (NZFFA).
Trout farming that would directly and indirectly endanger the public’s trout fishing, must not be a parcel of
proposals,” said Dr Peter Trolove NZFFA president. “Fish farming is capital intensive, high risk and marginally
economic.”
He was responding to a statement by the Fisheries Minister
Stuart Nash that “some of the current requirements are preventing several iwi from accessing and developing their
aquaculture settlement assets and the proposal outlines options to strengthen processes”.
Peter Trolove a veterinarian with qualifications in and experience of Scottish salmon farming, said too often fish
farming was portrayed as a wonderful innovation with rich financial rewards.
“The reality is fish farming is seen by government as a bypass for ailing sea fisheries,” he said. “Instead the Minister
and ministry should be focusing on the seriously flawed tradeable quota system around sea fish that has species
seriously depleted by companies.”
He said trout farming which iwi have publicly contemplated, would endanger the public’s recreational fishery which had
been estimated at well over a billion dollars per annum.
“Disease within fish farms, escaped fish undermining wild naturally evolved strains, incentives to poaching and black
markets, use of precious public water with organic pollution in effluents are just some of the threats from fish farming
and in particular trout farming, to the public’s fishery and that one billion dollar value,” said Peter Trolove.
Problems with King Salmon’s farming of salmon in the Marlborough Sounds underlined the uncertainty of aquaculture fish
farming.
“I do have concerns about aquaculture's influence on the ministry and government. Ministers and the ministry seem
mesmerised by the rhetoric. The reality is farming is basically feed lot farming, akin to keeping cattle penned in
barns.”
In terms of wet fish the conversion is 3:1. World-wide there was insufficient fish to supply the aquaculture industry
and the cheaper substitutes resulted in poorer quality product.
Peter Trolove said fish farmers readily quoted gross returns from fish farms ignoring the fact that 60-70percent was
absorbed by imported feed costs. High fish deaths due to warm temperatures and disease in crowded pens made fish farming
economically uncertain and fraught with risk.
ends