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Sealord chief executive Doug Paulin says it makes good sense for the Maori-owned fishing company to spend money on forestry.
The company is investing $10 million over 10 years in Ara Rākau, a joint venture with Te Arawa Fisheries and Maori landowners to plant trees on marginal Maori-owned land around Rotorua.
Mr Paulin says Sealord’s activities, mainly in its deepwater fleet, generated the equivalent of 70,000 tonnes of carbon, which needs to be offset until the technology is developed to replace fossil fuels in its vessels.
He says the owners will choose whether fast-growing exotics, native forestry or bush is grown.
“In the long run we are going to be planting native so even if they choose to grow fast-growing exotics, over time we would look to replace that with native trees and native bush which would be fantastic for that area,” Mr Paulin says.
Sealord is keen to work with other iwi shareholders on similar projects.
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