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NEWS CAWTHRON���S $5M COMMITMENT TO AQUACULTURE Work on Cawthron���s new $5 million Halifax Street campus began before Christmas and research will focus on shell���sh food safety, and adding value to foods. Cawthron CEO Charles Eason says, ���The companies we work with are asking us to increase our capacity and our capabilities to help them deliver export growth, and we are doing just that.��� Aquaculture New Zealand CEO Gary Hooper said, ���The future of aquaculture in New Zealand will be shaped by innovation, research and development, the new facilities will strengthen Cawthron���s capability and be an asset for the industry as we strive towards our billion-dollar (exports) goal.��� SANFORD, SEALORD TO BUY NIMPL MUSSEL BUSINESS Sanford Limited and Sealord Group Limited have reached an agreement to purchase the North Island Mussel Processors Limited business in Tauranga from its receivers McGrathNicol, allowing 20 full time and 200 casual workers to keep their jobs. The struggling NIMPL has been in receivership with its employees��� jobs in jeopardy. Greenshell NZ, part owner of NIMPL, had failed to pay NZ$1.2 million of processing fees to the joint venture with Sanford and Sealord, forcing the receivership. Sealord and Sanford worked with the receivers and NIMPL staff to ensure the processing facility was up and running before this season���s harvest began in November. Sealord CEO Graham Stuart said the purchase of the Tauranga-based processing facility was important for continuing the development of the Coromandel mussel industry. Sanford���s Managing Director Eric Barratt said, ���This deal allows us to further build on export opportunities through a seamless supply chain from sea to plate.��� The move will also help ensure a seamless supply of mussels which are an important part of New Zealand���s aquaculture industry and are exported to over 65 countries. The processing plant was the ���rst in the world to operate an automated musselopening machine as part of a NZ$23 million investment to expand the facility three years ago. Sanford and Sealord have each taken a 50 percent shareholding in a new company, North Island Mussels Limited, which will own the Tauranga plant and the Coromandel farming operations. NOT ALL AQUACULTURE DRUGS ARE FDA APPROVED Not all drugs currently marketed for ���sh are FDA approved. Even if a marketed product has the same established name (active ingredient) as an FDA-approved drug, that doesn���t mean it���s also FDA-approved. See http://tinyurl.com/coxq2sp for a full list of drugs currently approved for aquaculture in the USA. FDA rigorously evaluates an animal drug 4 ��� NZ AQUACULTURE ��� before approving it. As part of the approval process, the drug company must prove to FDA that: ��� The drug is safe and effective for a speci���c use in a speci���c animal species. For food ���sh intended for human consumption, the drug company must also prove that food made from ���sh treated with the drug is safe for people to eat; ��� The manufacturing process is adequate to preserve the drug���s identity, strength, quality, and purity; ��� The drug���s labelling is truthful and complete. As long as the drug company markets the animal drug, the FDA continues to monitor the drug���s: ��� Safety and effectiveness to determine if concerns arise that were unknown at the time of approval; ��� Manufacturing process to ensure quality and consistency are maintained; and ��� Labelling to make sure the information remains truthful and complete. FDA-approved animal drugs are shown to be scienti���cally safe and effective when used according to the directions on the label. If the approved drugs are for food ���sh, food made from treated ���sh is safe for people to eat. FDA-approved animal drugs also meet the agency���s strict standards for quality, purity, and potency. $300M BOOST FOR NORTHLAND With the Government having set a goal for New Zealand to have a $1 billion aquaculture industry by 2025, the Northland Aquaculture Development Group have decided to back a $300m plan for aquaculture in Northland. NADG chairman and Ngati Whatua CEO Allan Pivac said, ���We���re tired of Northland being considered a basket case and thought it was about time to do something about it to move ahead.��� The strategy launched by the Minister for Primary Industries, David Carter, at NIWA���s Bream Bay Aquaculture Park on November 9, 2012, aims to have the industry reach annual earnings of about $300 million and to employ more than 700 by 2030. Allan Pivac says the strategy has been 10 years in the making. Other members of this industry-led group include Doug JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013 Lloyd from OceaNZ Blue, Clive Stone and Keir Volkerling of Ngatiwai, Glen Beattie, Wayne Hutchinson and Jacquie Reed from Enterprise Northland, and Michael Bruce from NIWA Bream Bay. NADG has ���ve working groups: ���n���sh, oyster, greenshell mussel, freshwater with NIWA a key player in paua. Most of the seafood would be exported, providing work for transport, shipping and airline companies. Pivac says, ���Our focus has been on direct employment in the aquaculture industry: ���sh handling, farming and processing, marketing, harvesting, things like that, but we know those other sectors will bene���t too. There will be other jobs created downstream.��� Iwi groups involved in the ���n���sh group include: Whaingaroa Fisheries Company, Ngatiwai Trust Board, Parengarenga Inc and Te Runanga a Iwi o Ngapuhi. Pivac says Iwi are a big part of the strategy and their access to millions of dollars through Treaty of Waitangi settlements, means they are in a good position to invest in aquaculture, should they want to. ���This will ���lter down to bene���t all of our economy, which is what we all want.��� BOATIES OR AQUACULTURE? Opening the industry���s annual conference in Nelson in October 2012, Aquaculture New Zealand Chief Executive Gary Hooper says a balance must be reached between the needs of bach and boat owners and of marine farmers to reach sustainable growth. ���People need to better understand that water space is a common resource and the New Zealand Government has to work out how it best applies that resource for the bene���t of the whole country. There���s a bunch of people in New Zealand who, if they���ve got a boat or a launch or a yacht, think it���s their divine right to sail into any bay, anywhere in New Zealand, moor up and not have anything in their way.��� Hooper said he fully supports marine reserves and conservation, as long as it does not cut into the pro���ts of aquaculture and that reaching the industry���s $1 billion target by 2025 will necessitate securing additional water space, higher productivity and exporting more value-added products. ���Historically, some of the ways we���ve sold our product has been at the lower-value end ��� we haven���t been chasing those higher premiums and niche channels and markets,��� said Hooper. He said that high-value derivatives of farmed ���sh and shell���sh, such as omega-3 supplements and ingredients used to complement other foods, constitute a growing part of the aquaculture industry, ���These are massive categories overseas. We happen to be growing some of the best core ingredients that can feed into those markets.��� Hooper also supports expansion into new