All Hoki’s, supply and markets
Mr Volker Kuntzsch

Mr Volker Kuntzsch, Chief Executive Officer, Sanford Ltd

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Thank you goes out to:

  • Mario Inostroza, Emdepes, Chile
  • Mariano Mansilla, Seaman International, Argentina
  • Doug Paulin, Sealord, New Zealand
  • Rosie Hurst, NIWA, NZ
  • Greg Johansson, Johansson Seafood, NZ
  • Inge Wisselink, Deepwater Group, NZ
  • Janice Molloy, Southern Seabird Solutions, NZ
Figure 1: Sanford Group

Sanford Group is a New Zealand based company, the oldest listed company in the New Zealand stock exchange.

Figure 2: Hoki Catch Trends

The supply of Hoki is diminishing. The big question here is; what is the problem? We are facing several challenges around the southern hemisphere with this species.

Figure 3: Hoki New Zealand

There are two stocks of Hoki in New Zealand, the Western stock and the Eastern Stock – that are related to each other. Last year, the industry decided voluntarily to cut 25 thousand tons (out of 150 thousand tons). This year, the Ministry of Fisheries confirmed a quota cut of 35 thousand tons. That only applies to the Western stock. On the Eastern side, the stock is in better condition.

Figure 4: Survey Uncertainty

This is a graph from the National Institute for Water and Atmosphere. There is an overlap of catch per unit of effort (CPUE) and the trawl surveys over time. However, recently the trawl survey is well below the CPUE.

Figure 5: Hoki New Zealand

There is significant warming at the Northern and Western areas around New Zealand. When we have cooler sea the stock goes up so clearly, the temperature plays a role. As you can see on this slide, the temperature has gone up in the last 40 years. We have gotten a Salmon farm on the Southern part of New Zealand. At 17°C, the fish are happy, but at 18°C, they stop feeding. Only 1°C makes a big difference.

Figure 6: Shifting the Focus

In recent years we have put more focus on adding value to every kg of fish that we harvest in New Zealand. We have gotten a very diverse species mix, from commodity focus we have focused more on what we call Beautiful New Zealand Seafood. Currently, we are moving beyond food, to nutraceuticals and in the case of Hoki, we are now collecting the skin to produce face masks. That is a high value-added product.

Figure 7: Sealord Hoki Range

Our main competitor, Sealord, is focused on producing retail range varieties out of Hoki.

Figure 8: Hoki Argentina

There is a stable stock of around 80 thousand tons, but only 40 thousand are harvested by two companies.

Figure 9: Hoki Chile

In Chile, catches have increased significantly.

Figure 10: Hoki Chile

The temperature increase shown on this slide (note that it also applies to deeper in the water column) is the reason for declining of the Hoki stock in Chile.

Figure 11: Environmental Effects NZ

In New Zealand, we have put a lot of effort into reducing the environmental impact on birds and sea mammals. There is a reason to mention sea birds parallel to this. New Zealand is the sea bird capital of the world. We have tried to make some progress in protecting the species and we have accomplished a lot.

Figure 12: Seabirds

While be breed a lot of albatrosses, it is unfortunate that they then fly away on the migratory routes and many of them don’t come back. Traditionally, they used to come back at some stage. The challenge here is twofold; they are most likely captured by longliners in international waters or secondly, they don’t find enough food to feed on.

Figure 13: International Collaboration

There is a reason to focus on the topic of bottom trawling and marine protected areas. The worldwide goal is to convert 30% of the ocean into marine protected areas. At the same time, there is increasing condemnation of bottom trawling.

Figure 14: Environmental Effects NZ

What we have done in New Zealand is that we have allocated 30% of our EEZ to a protected area. Unfortunately, these areas are not recognised as protected areas by NGOs.

Figure 15: Transparency

Another important topic is transparency. All information regarding species in New Zealand is available on a website.

Figure 16: Precision Seafood Harvesting

There is a need to appreciate the effort that went into producing the Precision Seafood Harvesting. This has brought around a significant change.

Figure 17

The fish coming out of this trawl is live.