N.Z. sales blamed for Aust. fish slump

Press, 23 September 1981, Page 2

N.Z. sales blamed for Aust. fish slump

PA ' Wellington New Zealand exports of orange roughy had depressed fish prices in Australia to such an extent that deepwater trawlermen had had to tie up their boats, said the leader of an Australian fishing industry delegation, Mr Peter Doyle, in Wellington yesterday. The six-man delegation arrived in Wellington on Monday for a five-day fact-find-ing mission. “New Zealand has sold fish to Australia under the freetrade agreement and we have never objected in the past,” Mr Doyle said. “But we will ask the joint venture operators for re-

straints when they sell to Australia, and if we do not get any results we will take the case to Government and ask for protection under the free-trade agreement.” Mr Doyle said that joint venture operators were not permitted to sell their catch on the New Zealand market in competition with local commercial fishermen. “The selling of orange roughy, also known as deepsea perch, caught by the joint ventures could result in the collapse of New Zealand's tarakihi exports to Australia,” he said. Far Eastern countries, such as Japan, will not buy the orange roughy which

they call the diarrhoea fish. “But they eat it almost raw and the toxins found under the skin are not removed, while deep skinning seems to eliminate this problem,” said Mr Doyle. The delegation members are Mr Norman Grant, a market development officer; Mr Pat Warren, a New South Wales fisherman; Mr Bill Murray, general manager (operations) of the Queensland Fish Board; Mr Norman Clarke, of the Victorian Fishing Industry Council; and a Department of Primary Industry observer, Mr Perry Smith. They will visit Sealord Products at Nelson and Skeggs Fisheries, at Dunedin. During their visit they will have discussions with Australian High Commission staff, the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, the Department of Trade and Industry, the Fishing Industry Board, the Seafood Processors’ Association, the Fish Exporters' Association, and the Federation of Commercial Fishermen. They will also have discussions with Wrightson Fishing, Ltd, a unit of Fletcher Fishing, which has entered into a joint venture agreement with the Soviet Union.