Listen Now: 
A new sort of fishing net is being hailed as a game changer for the industry.
The precision fishing system unveiled at last week’s Seafood New Zealand conference has been developed by a consortium including the Ministry for Primary Industries, Sanfords and Maori-owned Aotearoa Fisheries and Sealord.
Steve Tarrant from Aotearoa Fisheries says rather than being bashed around in trawl nets, the fish is drawn into a membrane from which juvenile fish can escape while keeping larger fish in a column of water.
That means remaining juveniles or non-target species can be returned to the sea undamaged.
"So the fish are swimming happily in the net and when you bring that product onto the vessel it is very much in a live state and very much in a state where there is minimal damage and the fish itself has had, for want of a better term, a cruisey ride on to the deck," he says.
Mr Tarrant says the increased value gained by catching fish in better condition could be an incentive to upgrade the country’s ageing fishing fleet.
Copyright © 2013, UMA Broadcasting Ltd
RELATED NEWS
