Hoki catch unfit for export

Press, 26 November 1982, Page 7

Hoki catch unfit for export

PA Nelson A cargo of 630 tonnes of West Coast hoki, landed at Port Nelson in September by one of Fletcher Fishing’s two imported trawlers, has been declared unfit for export. The cargo, headed and gutted aboard from the former Hull trawler Otago Buccaneer, will have to. be reprocessed before it can meet export standards. “I cannot give it certification for export in its; present state,” said the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries inspector who examined the catch. ! f “The vessel has a licence

to head and gut at sea but this was not carried out to a standard which would enable the fish to be exported,” he said. The inspector, who did not wish to be named, said the catch could still be exported if given further processing.as prescribed by the Ministry. Fletcher Fishing’s shore operations general manager, Mr Simon Tiller, was unavailable for comment. When the hoki was landed at Nelson in September, he said that the company wanted to. offload more fish at the port for processing by local factories. In spite of the hoki’s being

rejected for export, Nelson’s Sealord Products, Australasia’s biggest fish processor, has bought most of it. “The fish is not that bad, But the way it was handled and packaged make it impossible to get certification for export,” said Sealord’s operations manager, Mr Andrew How. . “If the fish as we received it had been allowed overseas, and accepted as the standard of New Zealand fish production, we would have objected very strongly,” he said. Mr How said that Sealord would reprocess the hoki into fillet blocks, mostly for export.