Chathams may see trout-farm boom

Press, 16 April 1979, Page 1

Chathams may see trout-farm boom

From

CEDRIC MENTIPLAY

Though the political ban on commercial trout-farm-ing still exists in New Zealand, world trade prospects are bright for pansized trout and ova reared in the Chatham Islands. The Minister of Fisheries (Mr Maclntyre) has invited the Department of Agriculture to examine the possibility of setting up an experimental trout farm in the Chathams. This could also entail the granting of a licence for a very significant private undertaking.

“There are two products which are highly saleable,” Mr Maclntyre said. “One is the trout itself, the other the ‘eyed ova’ which are ova developed to the stage where the eyes can be seen. These are very saleable around the world — we talk about $8 a thousand.” New Zealand has the tremendous advantage of being able to produce and sell eyed ova in the Northern Hemisphere for restocking their farmpools in the Northern Hemisphere winter. This could be a valuable export in itself. This is going forward even though the Government has said that it will not allow trout-farming in New Zealand. This assurance was given to the acclimatisation bodies by the Prime Minister (Mr Muldoon) just before the General Election of 1975.

The assurance was that the ban would exist during the term of the National Government. Some had hoped that the assurance would last only for National’s first three-year term. But it seems accepted now that while National is in power no trout-farms will be permitted in New Zealand.

The story of trout-farms is an unhappy one in this country. In 1372, just before its defeat by Labour, the National Government passed legislation to permit both salmon and trout to be farmed. The incoming Labour Government amended this legislation, leaving salmon-farm-ing alone but rescinding the provisions for troutfarming “except for the Chatham Islands.”

Possibly this was done to give the Chathams

some sort of permanent industry, after the overfishing and collapse of the crayfish industry. If so, it was not taken up immedi ately, and nobody yet knows whether the Chathams can develop as a trout-production centre.

All available evidence suggests that trout would flourish in the Chathams. The difficulty is in getting private enterprise to move into this isolated area. Mr Maclntyre’s direction is expected to give the project the necessary thrust. But there is an odd twist in the fact that, because of Mr Muldoon’s promise to the trout fishermen four years ago, any attempt to turn troutfarming into a viable export industry must still be made under the restrictive Labour Government legislation.