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National | Fisheries

Ngāti Porou nets third high-profile fishing business

Ngāti Porou is reeling in another high-profile fishing business to expand its interests in aquaculture, with a joint-venture investment in King Salmon farming off the coast of Ōtautahi.

The Iwi’s seafood arm, Ngāti Porou Seafoods Group, and Te Kahui o Onuku have partnered with investment firm Archipelago Capital Management, to buy 84 per cent of Akaroa Salmon, which harvests sea-reared King Salmon from the Akaroa Harbour.

The JV will take the name Ahi Mokopuna and will be led by Dean Moana, director of the Ngāti Porou Holding Company; the group says it will focus on "carving a sustainable economic, environmental, and cultural future" for the next generation.

“We have invested because it’s a good business with lots of potential. The product is superior; the partners are all aligned, allowing Ngāti Porou to diversify our investments geographically and step into aquaculture.” Moana said.

A pōwhiri for Ahi Mokopuna was held at Onuku Marae, the group saying its launch was an auspicious occasion, rekindling ties with Iwi and the business’ founding whānau.

Among the manuhiri supporting the partners were a small group of Ngāti Porou taurahere from Christchurch and Akaroa Salmon founder Tom Bates who launched the business some four decades ago and whose whānau will retain the remaining 16% stake of the business.

'Fiscally resilient'

Moana says the Akaroa Salmon business has been fiscally resilient since first established in the early 1980s when pens were built by hand with the help of local fishermen.

“Over the past four decades, the business has survived severe storms, market crises, supply shortages and other challenges,” Moana said.

Ngati Porou’s first ventures into commercial fishing came with an investment into Sealord in the early 1990s as a result of the 1989 Māori Fisheries Act, which gave Iwi a share of the Quota Management System (QMS).

Sealord now has eight deep-sea vessels operating from New Zealand waters, and employs more than 1,000 people in Aotearoa and 230 people overseas.

Ngati Porou Seafoods Group has expanded into smoked fish with the Ahia brand and crayfish, mussels, oysters, and kina through its stable mates.

Financial terms of the Akaroa deal were not disclosed.