Graeme Sinclair continues his discussion about the aquatic environment around New Zealand that we all love and want to protect. He has featured the Tiaki harvesting systems as a part of his in-depth look at the Hauraki Gulf, the local environmental concerns and the people that use this area for work and recreation. You can see the crew of the Sanford vessel "Tengawai" in action and hear their views on this innovative harvesting system in Season 3 (episode 10) of "Ocean Bounty".
Precision Seafood Harvesting was very pleased to be included as a part of keynote speech by Giles Bolton (Responsible Sourcing Director, Tesco) at the recent North Atlantic Seafood forum.
The Tiaki designs were used as an example of how innovative concepts can become sustainable seafood solutions.
Leaders in seafood sustainability have been recognised in the Seafood Sustainability Awards, which announced its finalists today.
"Everyone has a part to play in ensuring the sustainability of New Zealand's kaimoana. These awards are a chance to recognise the innovation, commitment and excellence of a group of people from across the community who are leading the way," says deputy director-general of Fisheries New Zealand, Dan Bolger.
"They have been selected by an independent judging panel including representatives from commercial, recreational, and customary fisheries sectors as well as aquaculture and environmental NGOs [non-government organisations].
"The finalists are shining examples of those throughout tangata whenua, industry, and communities who contribute to the long-term sustainability of New Zealand's seafood sector and ensure that our oceans are resilient, healthy and bountiful for future generations," says Mr Bolger.
Judging panel chair and WWF-New Zealand chief executive, Livia Esterhazy, says the finalists represent an exciting and diverse range of individuals, teams, businesses, research organisations, iwi, schools and communities who contribute to the long-term health and sustainable use of our moana.
"Every single life in Aotearoa is connected to our ocean. In fact, we all depend on a healthy ocean for our survival. So, a sustainable seafood sector is essential.
"The quality of the entrants has made it a challenge for the judging panel to select the finalists. We are inspired by the calibre of people who are putting in the hard mahi to ensure we can protect, restore, and sustain our ocean.
"We congratulate all of the finalists announced today, and commend every entrant for their dedication to the sustainability of New Zealand's seafood sector," says Ms Esterhazy.
Minister of Fisheries Stuart Nash launched the inaugural Seafood Sustainability Awards to recognise those who actively work towards the innovation and sustainability across the seafood sector. All award winners will be announced at the awards' dinner in Wellington on 18 March 2020.
NZ Seafood Sustainability Award finalists 2020
Operational Innovation Award
CRA8 Rock Lobster Industry Association Inc
Precision Seafood Harvesting
Richard Wells – Resource Wise
The Lee-Fish Limited Award for Market Innovation and Value Added
Awatoru Enterprises Ltd.
Better Fishing
Gravity Fishing
The New Zealand King Salmon Co Ltd.
Kaitiakitanga Award
CRA8 Rock Lobster Industry Association Inc
Aaron McCloy – Papa Taiao Earthcare
Richard Wells – Resource Wise
Scott and Sue Tindale
Emerging Leader Award
Josh Wyber – High Country Salmon
Maegen Blom – Mills Bay Mussels
Nate Smith – Gravity Fishing
The finalists of the Supreme Sustainability Award and Minister of Fisheries’ Award are confidential and the winners will be announced on the evening.
The PSH partners celebrate the efforts of the Plant & Food Scientists who worked on the Precision Seafood Harvesting programme. The award was presented at a ceremony held at the Beehive.
The Primary Growth Partnership ended in March 2019 having achieved much. Key concepts and 6 project workstream results are summarised and further papers will cover technical and policy/regulatory developments. The gear will be commercially available worldwide in 2022 and be underpinned by this independently peer reviewed information.
Key Concepts
Well-managed fisheries increase value through improving productivity, quality and efficiency rather than increasing volume. From being a frozen, commodity fishery, the New Zealand Hoki fishery has learnt how to preserve inherent, natural qualities.
Trawling is economically efficient bulk fish harvesting and has relied upon collecting exhausted fish in the cod-end. Fish are physically damaged and highly exercised i.e. every uncontrolled interaction is a potential deficit.
New Zealand fish physiology scientists collaborated with leading seafood companies and the government in the Precision Seafood Harvesting (PSH) Primary Growth Partnership (PGP) to develop technologies to harvest key commercial fish species in minimally damaged, minimally fatigued condition to enable the quality potential to be realised for rested harvested fish.
They envisaged and developed a modular harvest system (MHS) to match the internal waterflow velocity with key species’ swimming speed. MHS fish could surface alive, neither injured nor stressed and smaller fish and unwanted species, including megafauna, could escape or be released and survive. Being rested, the muscle/raw protein material quality is significantly improved which dramatically increases higher value product options.
This MHS is in commercial operation in New Zealand deepwater fisheries and under trial in inshore fisheries.
It could significantly transform bulk harvest fisheries worldwide.
Tuesday, 21 May 2019, 12:34 pm
Press Release: Precision Seafood Harvesting
21 May 2019
PSH Media Release
New Kiwi Fishing Technology Gets Approval For Snapper, Tarakihi, Trevally, Red Gurnard and John Dory
The future of fishing: Snapper in the new Precision Seafood Harvesting technology, that’s now approved for commercial use on both inshore and deep water species.
The revolutionary new Precision Seafood Harvesting fishing technology has notched up another milestone toward becoming an alternative commercial future fishing method for many New Zealand fish species.
But those working on the programme say while they have come a long way in developing the new way to fish, they have only ‘hit the tip of the iceberg’ in terms of what this could do for putting high-value sustainable fish on the table for consumers while looking after fish stocks and protecting marine mammals.
After seven years of trials by the programme, Fisheries New Zealand has approved the use of the new kiwi developed technology, known as the Modular Harvest System (MHS), in North Island inshore fisheries for snapper, tarakihi, trevally, red gurnard, and john dory with specific conditions.
Precision Seafood Harvesting is a $48 million, 7-year programme between the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) and three fishing companies; Moana New Zealand, Sealord Group and Sanford Limited, to develop a new fishing technology based on science from Plant & Food Research.
The second of Three’s Ocean Bounty series is available to watch now. This episode of the programme follows the crew of the Otakou as they use Precision Seafood Harvesting technology to trawl for Hoki. The crew give great insights into how the Tiaki method is helping them to provide better quality fish that require less processing for Sealord.
The teams of skippers, fishers, scientists and inventors behind the new Precision Seafood Harvesting fishing technology say they’re very pleased PSH has been approved for commercial use in the deep water Hoki, Hake and Ling fisheries.
The Precision Seafood Harvesting System (PSH) technology is the first non-mesh commercial fishing innovation to be approved for use in New Zealand following changes to the fishing regulations last year. The technology has been developed to help fishing vessels add-value to deep-water fish species that are landed on-board in better condition.
PSH Programme Manager, Dave Woods, says six years of trials with these deep-water species, show that when using the PSH technology the fish are in much better condition and quality when they’re landed. This is possible as the fish are held in conditions of very low velocity water flow and this is the biggest difference compared to normal mesh-based trawl designs. “Importantly fish that do go through the escapement holes underwater have a better chance of survival than if they go out through traditional trawl mesh.”
Woods, who has been with the programme since it started in 2012, says the new way of fishing will mean New Zealand can sell a higher proportion of the highest-grade fish.
“We can get a higher value because the fish aren’t damaged. For hoki, that means more product at the higher end of the quality cascade, such as skinless fillets or whole chilled hoki, and less volumes of the lower end products like B-grade fillet blocks, mince or fishmeal.”
Precision Seafood Harvesting is a $44 million, 7-year Primary Growth Partnership (PGP) between MPI and three fishing companies, Moana New Zealand, Sealord Group and Sanford Limited to develop new fishing technology based on science from Plant & Food Research. The investment is split between MPI and the three fishing companies.
“This is the first innovation of its kind in 100 years of commercial fishing that has been approved for commercial use. It has taken six years to get to the point where we could even submit this alternative design for approval because the historical regulations were about mesh nets.”
“We hope this is a step change for innovation in the way we fish. To do this we have had to test and prove every aspect of the new designs because they are so new and different and this has never been done before.”
Wood says the approval is just a first step for PSH, which is working to get commercial approval for other species. It also gives confidence to the support teams around the project that they can build on it and grow the support industry.
“PSH isn’t just creating a new way to fish, it’s creating whole new industry opportunities around this innovation like manufacturing and supporting the new fishing gear and new vessel designs.”
“This approval also starts to build a foundation for regional development in terms of manufacturing for new prototypes of this technology. Until we had commercial approval it has been difficult to justify the capital investments required to scale-up the manufacturing capabilities. This was due to the uncertainties of an experimental technology that didn’t have regulatory approval – now we’ve got the first approval it will open up commercial opportunities for manufacturers.”
“The next step will be the innovation that we expect from our skippers and fishermen over the next 10 years through increasing usage of this new technology. The learning curve and innovation curve from now will be exciting.”
“While the team is focused on completing the work we need to get approval for other species, including inshore species like snapper. We’re also working on the exit planning needed for 2019 when the PGP programme ends.
“The world is watching this technology. There’s been a huge amount of amazing kiwi IP and expertise built up through this programme and we need to make sure we’re able to utilize all of it when this new technology is fully commercialised. ENDS
Seafood New Zealand have put out a mini documentary series on New Zealand’s seafood industry. Precision Seafood Harvesting features in the episode on innovation. It’s a first look at the new onboard handling systems we’re using to improve the quality of our fish and increase the survivability of fish we return to the ocean.
Three’s Ocean Bounty series has featured Precision Seafood Harvesting on two of their episodes. This episode of the programme follows Moana fisherman Sam Hayes and his crew on the Jay Debra as they use Precision Seafood Harvesting to produce high quality, fresh fish. This is a great watch to see how the PSH technology works and the changes it’s driving for the New Zealand seafood industry.
The inaugural Maori Innovation Award at the New Zealand Hi-Tech Awards has been won by Precision Seafood Harvesting for its revolutionary technology that does away with traditional trawl nets to allow fish to be landed alive and in perfect condition.
New Zealand is producing a new category of premium seafood – called Tiaki – with crew now fishing the Tiaki way using revolutionary Precision Seafood Harvesting technology.