$7.5M fish success

Press, 6 May 1981, Page 26

$7.5M fish success

PA Dunedin The Dunedin-based fishing joint venture, Fletcher Sovrybflot Fishing, Ltd, exported $7.5 million worth of fish and finished its first 12 months with a profit. The company, generally known as Fletsof, exported its entire catch. The company's chairman, Mr E. V. Henry, said the sales from the new enterprise represented exports New Zealand would hever have had if the Soviet experience in deep and distant water fishing had not been ayailable. For Dunedin, the joint venture had meant a contribution to the local economy of about $12,000 a day or $4

million a year in berthage, providoring, stevedoring, factory wages, packaging, and some engineering work. The Fletsof catch for the first. year comprised arrow squid, the little-fished orange roughy species, also known as deep sea perch, southern blue whiting, and oreo dory. Mr Henry said the 9000 tonnes of orange roughy, which is only caught at depths of about 1000 metres, was taken in bulk for the first time in New Zealand waters and found a responsive market at good prices in Australia, Italy, France and Greece. The company had obtained satisfactory prices by international standards for all

fish it had marketed and it had developed markets for its products in Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan and Spain. The general manager of Fletsof, Mr John Searle, said the company processed part of the catch in Dunedin at Wrightson Fisheries and under a contract with Globe Export Fisheries at Sawyers Bay. But. the amount of fish processed could increase to a quarter, of the catch once equipment and ' staff had been geared up. A pilot plant for processing squid would work over six to -eight months and would be evaluated to find out if a new ■'squid processing system 'should be installed.