Salmon farmer wants more support from the government
“The government says it wants things to be more green – agriculture, aquaculture – and say they want to address climate change,” chief executive Grant Rosewarne told BusinessDesk.
“Well, we’re desperate around climate change. It’s already happening to us and we need that support. So far, we’re not getting it.”
Rosewarne was speaking after last year’s warm weather caused the deaths of one in five fish.
Read more: NZ King Salmon’s EBITDA up by 172%
“We think we represent everything this new government is asking for from industry, but we are disproportionately affected by climate change.”
Grant Rosewarne was talking at a company presentation in response to the wider environmental issues they faced.
NZ King Salmon is looking towards Norway such as SalMar’s flagship project “Ocean Farm 1” and is currently testing sea conditions at 13 sites from Cook Strait to Stewart Island. The first data from a site six kilometres north of Port Gore, in Cook Strait, was “encouraging”, Rosewarne said.
Sea temperatures so far this year have been “slightly above longer-term averages, but below temperatures recorded during the FY18 summer,” the company told the publication. It noted that February and March are critical months for fish survival rates and there will be an update to the market “at the conclusion of summer”.
