February 02, 2017
Chief Executive Jeremy Gardiner, Manaaki Whitebait
Chief Executive Jeremy Gardiner, Manaaki Whitebait
Jeremy Gardiner is Chief Executive of New Zealand Premium Whitebait Ltd which is developing New Zealand’s first commercial whitebait farm.
New Zealand Premium Whitebait, the country's only commercial whitebait farm, produced its first commercial harvest last year and is planning to invest in a larger facility this year that will enable it to step up production and start selling overseas.
The company, predominantly owned by Maori interests, was formed in 2014 to commercially farm whitebait after the know-how was developed at the Mahurangi Technical Institute in Warkworth to enable whitebait, the juveniles of five species of fish, to be reintroduced into streams affected by Auckland's Northern Motorway extension.
The company's investors aim to fund the investment themselves if possible, says Chhief Executive Jeremy Gardiner, who is the son of Wira Gardiner, a former deputy chair of Te Ohu Kaimoana, and former National MP Pauline Gardiner.
Its whitebait is sold under the brand Manaki, a Maori term referencing hospitality and care for the environment.
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