Fish Exports Worth $7.7m

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31761, 19 August 1968, Page 26

Fish Exports Worth $7.7m

(N.Z. Press Association)

WELLINGTON, Aug. 18. New Zealand’s fish exports last year were worth $7,758,77.3 —an increase of $1,897,277 over the total value of exports in 1966, the Marine Department said in its annual report to Parliament today. The major export item was crayfish valued at 86,261,655 (compared with 84,575,318 in 1966). Fresh and frozen fish exports were worth $1,261,917 (81,167,874). Fish imports in 1967 cost 81,436,197 and included canned salmon, herrings, pilchards, and sardines. The imports cost 8514,163 less than the 1966 total. The report said the landings of wet fish by the commercial fishing industry last year totalled 713,527 cwt—an increase of 47,253 cwt over the previous year’s catch and the highest in the history of the industry. Nelson, which in 1966 was

the sixth most important fishing port, rose to second place in 1967, increasing its catch of wet fish by 150 per cent. Fish landings at Nelson were 109,739 cwt, compared with 42,835 cwt in 1966. The report says the increase was a result of the activities of two ocean-going factory-trawlers from the port. Gisborne, which was the second fishing port in 1966, increased its fish landings in 1967 from 75,467 cwt to 88,743 cwt and was third. Auckland remained in first place, although the landed catch dropped from 132,850 cwt in 1966 to 128,455 cwt. The total fish catch—in-

eluding crayfish—was worth $10,452,626 last year. The number of fishing boats registered at the end of last year was 2165, an increase of 253 on the 1966 total, and the number of fishermen was 3714, which was 426 more than in 1966.

The production of fishmeal and fish oil from otherwise unmarketable fish increased from 1955 cwt, valued at $15,042, in 1966 to 21,782 cwt, valued at $140,078. In his foreword to the report, the Secretary for Marine (Mr R. N. Kerr) says that although the intensified crayfishing at the Chatham Islands has meant a further welcome increase in fish ex-

ports and earnings in overseas funds, it has created many problems and a great deal of additional work for the department. Major considerations have been the safety of vessels and crews travelling to and from the islands and working in the often dangerous and largely exposed waters there, and the adjustment of the Fisheries Regulations to ensure, as far as possible, the widest use of the rich crayfish resources, he says. “Close supervision has been necessary over the survey and manning of the increasing numbers of vessels wishing to work the Chathams.’’

During the 1967 picking season 2284 sacks of rock oysters were gathered—a drop of 305 sacks on the previous year’s total. Dredging in Foveaux Strait produced 164,340 sacks of oysters last year, compared with 160,382 sacks in the previous year.