Fisheries staff dismissed

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33750, 24 January 1975, Page 14

Fisheries staff dismissed

(New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, January 23. A drop in demand for export fish has forced Nelson Fisheries to dismiss a number of workers.

The managing-director (Mr R. T. McKay) would not disclose how many of the company’s 70 workers had been given one week’s notice, but he said it was not as many us 40. Reports had suggested that almost half the staff had been given notice. The drop in demand for export fish meant the company had to restrict the amount it brought from trawlers, Mr McKay said. “This had considerably affected the throughput through the factory, and

there has not been enough to keep the plant operating.” A tremendous catch in the Northern Hemisphere last season meant a lot of fish was being offered cheaply at the peak of New Zealand’s season, Mr McKay said. Fish, like meat, was a source of protein, and when one market dropped the other followed. "What is happening here is no different from what’s happening in the United Kingdom, the E.E.C. fishing nations, Canada, the United States and Japan,” he said. "Its a world-wide trend now affecting New Zealand’s export markets.” Mr McKay said he believed that a number of other fisheries would also lay off staff.

A reasonable amount of seasonal work was available in Nelson for those put out of work, he said.