March 21, 2007

New Zealand to grow kingfish
 

New Zealand is moving away from its present reliance on mussels, oysters, paua and salmon towards new species like the kingfish.

The country's National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research is currently rearing thousands of fingerlings, hoping the kingfish industry would take off.

Kingfish farming is attractive as it follows the same rearing methods in principle as salmon. At the same time, it offers much more value pound-for-pound on the global market.

New Zealand's aquaculture earnings are low internationally, at less than US$2000 a tonne, compared with Australia's US$30,000 a tonne from higher-value species such as tuna and prawns.

The same amount of space devoted to rearing kingfish, rather than mussels, would yield 30 times more revenue for the farmer, studies concluded.

Japan, a major consumer of farmed kingfish, is a major importer and presents a very attractive market.