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The chair of Ngāti Kahungunu says owning a fishing company is a huge risk but one the tribe needs to take after letting others catch its quota for the post 20-plus years.
The Hawke’s Bay and Wairarapa iwi today launched Takitimu Seafoods, after buying the business and assets of Napier-based Hawkes Bay Seafoods for around $20 million.
In February that company, two of its directors and the manager were fined more than $1 million for under-reporting catches.
Ngahiwi Tomoana says that means the new company will be closely watched, and it’s making compliance a priority.
"We’ve taken over a business that has just been in court over four years and so the microscope is on us so we want to be doubly, triply sure we are doing everything right, so that is a huge risk, and we don’t underestimate it," he says.
Mr Tomoana says Takitimu Fisheries intends to create a training programme so its workers, many of whom are Ngāti Kahungunu, can develop new skills and have a more secure career in the industry.
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