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The iconic Ohiwa Oyster Farm is coming under full Māori ownership.
The farm opened in 1968, and since then hundreds of thousands of visitors have stopped at its harbourside takeaway kiosk just past Ohope for a feed of oysters and fish and chips.
The new owners are Wini Geddes from Ngati Awa and her husband Simon, who run a successful forestry training company Tāne Mahuta NZ Ltd.
Winnie Geddes says growing up her whānau of fourteen kids spent most summer holidays at Ohiwa.
She says they have big plans for the renamed Tio Ohiwa, which now uses just 10 percent of its available marine space.
“The 10 percent equates to about a million oysters, and so you can imagine what 90-percent’s going to look like! That’s all part of the development of it – and we’re calling for investors or tono to help in that development, because kua pakaru nga racks, and we had to replace and re-do the rest of the farm – and also bring in some new technology,” she says.
The business intends to provide cadetships to train local rangatahi – and there will be even more employment opportunities as the business grows.
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