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The New Zealand Seafood Industry Council Ltd

Seafood industry fact file

The following information and statistics are updated regularly and provides a snap shot of the size and scope of the New Zealand seafood industry, including main species caught and relevant export earnings.

Some general facts

  • In 2009 New Zealand's seafood industry was twice ranked the most sustainably managed fishery in the world. The first was the Worm/Hillborn research published in the journal Science in July 2009. The second was research published in Marine Policy in November 2009 which evaluated 53 countries and rated NZ best overall against 14 indicators of marine resource management.
  • NZ marine fisheries waters (Exclusive Economic Zone & territorial sea): 4.4m km2.  This is the fourth largest EEZ in the world and makes us an ocean territory 'superpower'.
  • NZ coastline: 15,134 km.  This is the ninth longest coastline in the world.
  • Species commercially fished: 130
  • Species in Quota Management System: 97
  • Around 50% of fishing quota is owned by Maori.
  • Estimated commercial fish resource value (2009): NZ$ 4.0b
  • Total Allowable Commercial Catch 08/09: 572,000 tonnes
  • Total landed catch Oct '08 - Sep '09: 422,000 tonnes
  • Total seafood harvest (incl aquaculture): 625,000 tonnes
  • Direct subsidies: Nil
  • Information about Omega-3 can be found on The Greatest Meal on Earth website.

Recreational and commercial fishing

According to the Colmar Brunton Survey (PDF 594KB) from 2007: 

  • Nearly all (88%) New Zealanders eat fish at least once a month
  • Almost half of us (45%) eat fish at least once a week
  • Only one quarter of all New Zealanders fished recreationally more than once in the past 12 months
  • 25% have never fished recreationally in New Zealand
  • 6 out of 10 recreational fishers report that they are satisfied with their catch
  • 65% of New Zealanders think that both recreational and commercial fishers should be required to catch less if there is not enough fish to meet demand
  • More than half (56%) of the recreational fishers agree
  • 85% of New Zealanders think that up to 10 fish per recreational fisher is a reasonable daily allowance and 85% of recreational fishers agree (the current limit is 20 for most finfish)
  • 64% of New Zealanders think that it is reasonable to require recreational fishers to record their catch and more than half (55%) of the recreational fishers agree.

Top 10 export species 2009

  1. NZ$ 202m Mussels           
  2. NZ$ 184m Rock Lobster                
  3. NZ$ 152m Hoki    
  4. NZ$   75m Squid              
  5. NZ$   61m Salmon
  6. NZ$   51m Orange Roughy               
  7. NZ$   48m Paua         
  8. NZ$   46m Jack Mackerel                 
  9. NZ$   42m Ling         
  10. NZ$   36m Snapper           

Top 10 export markets 2009

  1. NZ$ 270m Australia
  2. NZ$ 235m Hong Kong
  3. NZ$ 175m China 
  4. NZ$ 163m USA
  5. NZ$ 139m Japan
  6. NZ$   61m Spain
  7. NZ$   43m Korea
  8. NZ$   36m Singapore
  9. NZ$   31m Germany
  10. NZ$   29m France

      (NZ$ 202m EU)

Total export 2009

Volume: 287,000 tonnes

Value: NZ$ 1.4b

Export of seafood 2008 and 2009 35kB
*All values are Free on Board.  Figures are final figures.

Top 5 companies

  1. Sanford Ltd
  2. Aotearoa Fisheries Ltd 
  3. Sealord Ltd
  4. Talley's Fisheries Ltd
  5. Ngai Tahu Fisheries Settlement Ltd

Employment

Census 2006 (resident population count):

  • Rock Lobster Fishing  246
  • Prawn Fishing               9
  • Finfish Trawling         678
  • Squid Jigging                -
  • Line Fishing               354
  • Marine Fishing nec     486
  • Aquaculture            1,086
  • Seafood Processing 3,678
  • Fish Wholesaling        618

Estimated direct and indirect employment in seafood industry: 26,620 FTE

Domestic fish consumption

The New Zealand Seafood Industry Council estimates that about 90% of all New Zealand seafood by value is exported and balance is consumed in the domestic market.  New Zealand imports annually more than NZ$100m of seafood products.

According to the Colmar Brunton Survey (PDF 594KB) nearly all (88%) New Zealanders eat fish at least once a month. Almost half of us (45%) eat fish at least once a week.

Apparent fish consumption in New Zealand
Production (tonnes) Non-food uses (tonnes) Imports (tonnes) Export (tonnes) Food supply (tonnes) Population (millions) Per caput supply (kg/year)
640,695 100,901 42,114 471,231 100,678 4,1 27.0

Food Balance Sheets 2005

Seafood industry training

  • 4326 individuals with training agreements in 2009
  • 507 national certificates achieved in 2009

Last update: 6th of May 2010.

Sources used: