March 26, 2014
New technology gives Sealord fresh edge
Sealord Group has signed a three-year agreement with Australian supermarket chain Woolworths to get fresh hoki into all its supermarkets across the Tasman during the season.
Chairperson Matanuku Mahuika says Australia is now the largest market for the Maori-Japanese company, as it turns its focus from the United States and Europe to Asia, China and Australia.
It is also part of a strategy by the company to sell more fresh fish.
Mr Mahuika says new technology such as cameras in the trawl nets hundreds of metres below the water, and new precision harvesting systems is leading to an increase in quality.
"We’re still trialling it with various fisheries but what we do know is we can do, at least in the hoki fishery, is bring live hoki onto the deck from a couple of hundred metres down, and what it does is improve significantly the quality of the flesh. The fish doesn’t come up in a distressed state like it does in a net, you don’t get the bruising, and also because it’s not stressed you don’t get the damage you get to the flesh from the lactic acid and those sorts of things," he says.
Matanuku Mahuika says Sealord is looking for a new chief executive, with Graham Stuart leaving after seven years at the helm.
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