Professional Skipper Magazine from VIP Publications

EDITORIAL BY KEITH INGRAM A modicum of COMMON SENSE required A s I sit down to write this editorial I would like to acknowledge the late Russell Parker of Coromandel. Russell was a larger than life character, with a reputation for being a bit on the wild side, but it is for his legacy to aquaculture we will remember him. Russell was recognised for his innovation and hard work in the ���eld of contract mussel harvesting, and always being ahead of his game.The aquaculture industry has lost a good man. As we look at developments in the aquaculture industry it is sobering to see that we are still suffering at the hands of bureaucratic procrastination and the public���s NIMBY attitudes. After the recent decision on aquaculture in the Marlborough Sounds from the Board of Inquiry for the Environment Minister, it���s any wonder that anyone would want to invest in aquaculture at all. A fact that frequently overlooked is, that 50 percent of all internationally available seafood products come from aquaculture. New Zealand is a prime supplier of quality farmed produce to the world���s food bowl. Our meat and dairy are recognised as some of the best in world and we should also be a major supplier of top-end quality seafood products. We have clean, nutrient-���lled waters, and strong tidal ���ows that cleanse our coastal waters, yet we are sti���ed by bureaucratic processes that are designed to wear you down and take your money, so that by the time the approvals for your enterprise come through you have gone broke and those who follow have to start the process again - from scratch. No wonder Australia has the jump on us. Not only do they have our snapper and king���sh technology, they now have mussels and abalone to add to their list. In saying this, they are behind the kiwis in both development and skills on many species including abalone breeding. On the one hand, while establishing aquaculture farms in Oz is a relatively simple process, they have to work very hard in an environment where Mother Nature can be very hostile as recent bush���res attest. New Zealand���s aquaculture products are currently diseasefree and when a virus or bio-toxin hits us our industry can shut down within 24 hours. Our ���sh farms are not pouring antibiotics into our brood stock or onto growing ���sh stock as seen in the northern hemisphere. So just how do we get a commonsense approach from legislators to aquaculture development objections? These objections appear from nowhere, at the last minute, where the applicant is required to prove the complainant wrong, and the complainant is not required to properly justify their concerns when presenting their objection. Sadly, solutions to these issues rest with politicians whose primary focus is more about pressing the ���esh and keeping voters happy and to hell with feeding the nation. We have recently read of the hysteria surrounding Canadian farmed salmon and naturally occurring diseases in ���sh that are harmless to humans. These unprofessional environmentalists are attempting an arti���cial blockade on healthy food. If the environmental community were truly concerned about the health-related consequences of handling and serving food, they would not bother with ���sh that may or may not contain natural bugs that are harmless to humans, but would focus their efforts on products that do actually represent a health hazard to the cook and the consumer. You don���t often hear them voice concerns about poultry products, despite their statement that, ���raw poultry must be handled carefully to prevent cross-contamination. This contamination can occur if raw poultry, or its juices, comes in contact with cooked food or foods that is eaten raw, such as salad.��� New Zealand farmed salmon is one of the excellent raw materials of sushi and sashimi, in other words, it also is served raw, and by association, becomes tarred with the same brush. Salmon farming and ISA, or infectious salmon anaemia, is a hot topic in the international media. It is timely that we remind everyone that the comments do not apply to New Zealand salmon. The scare tactics and misinformation do however, rub off on our product. In a world where 870 million people don���t have enough to eat (source: UN World Food Program), anti-salmon farming activists are using misinformation to needlessly waste more than one million pounds (weight), of quality protein. That���s enough for about six million meals. While activists seek to shut down Canada���s salmon farming industry and promote fear mongering, there is a general disregard for the true science and the facts in their country. Is it any wonder that consumers here are concerned when they read media stories giving the impression that sickly, diseased ���sh are being fed antibiotics in New Zealand. Here, the truth is far less lurid. In New Zealand we just do not need to send our ���sh to the doctor��� Period. 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CONTROLL IN THE ���RED SE G AS��� GST No: 68-684-757 Post to: VIP Publications Ltd, 4 Prince Regent Drive, Half Moon Bay, Manukau, 2012 MARCH/APRIL 2013 ��� THE INDEPE NDENT VOI CE OF NEW ZEALAN D AQUACULTU RE NZ AQUACULTURE ��� 3

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