50 | MARINE Waimana Marine ENGINEERING AQUACULTURE MAINTENANCE, DESIGN AND BUILD We are committed to providing innovative engineering solutions tailored to your marine industry needs. Contact Us 027 667 7977 paul@pspgroup.nz smithengineering.co.nz Proud supporters of Waimana Marine T T Rosa Watson New boat boosts mussel business The expansion has increased harvest from 4000 to 7000 tonne per year across its Marlborough Sounds and Golden Bay operations. Marlborough mussel cultivating and harvesting operator, Waimana Marine, has undergone an exciting expansion in the last year with a new operation in Golden Bay. The company, which has been based at Elaine Bay in Marlborough and operating since 1982, has launched a brand-new vessel at Port Tarakohe. The location was previously a satellite farming operation for the company. “And we’ve now moved over there,” says director, Simon Pooley. “It’s no longer a satellite base. It’s a permanent base for us.” The venture is in collaboration with the Southland-based Blom family that owns the mussel farm. Launching the brand-new, 22-metre multipurpose aquaculture vessel in October last year, which was expertly fitted by Motueka-based Smith engineering, was “very exciting” for the team, Simon says. “That’s a huge milestone, a huge achievement. That’s allowed us to essentially move into Golden Bay with a vessel that’s capable of working in that open water. It services all the needs of their farm, but it also has a lot more capacity than that, so we’re able to build our business around the additional capacity.” The vessel has diversified the company from the Sounds into the open water, he says. It has also increased staff numbers across the company by eight, to 28. “But the nuts and bolts of our business haven’t changed much; it’s just everything’s expanded,” says Simon. The expansion has increased harvest from 4000 to 7000 tonne per year across its Marlborough Sounds and Golden Bay operations. The company has also expanded its capacity to grow mussel crop, selling to five different buyers, including food suppliers and nutraceuticals. The focus now is to build on these collaborations, Simon says. “There are a number of smaller players, family and businesses still, and obviously we’re one of them. So, working together with other family-owned businesses is one of our objectives and it’s working really well.” Waimana Marine remains primarily a contracting company, including contract harvesting, seeding, farm maintenance and mussel spat production. “That’s what we specialise in. Ninety per cent of the work that we do is other people’s work, from small operators with one mussel line to very large operators with multiple mussel farms,” he says. “That’s our bread and butter.” While the season at Marlborough Sounds has been a good one, it’s been a tough one in Golden Bay, with poor condition due to weather patterns. It shows that geographical spread is the best strategy as a marine farmer, says Simon. “If you’re only farming in one area, you’re subject to all of the issues that belong to that area. Whereas, if you get geographical spread for your production area, there’s always somewhere that’s open.” He says with updated technology the company is better resourced than ever to meet its environmental obligations. A member of the Marine Farming Association, it participates in its environmental certification programme. “And since we’ve grown, we’ve actually managed to just improve our status.” Simon says the company has put a lot of effort into beach cleaning. “We’ve just got more people and more resources to be able to do that with, so we’re able to clean more beaches. “There’s been a noticeable increase in activity and everything that we do, but we’ve managed to preserve who we are, and we are a family business with family values, and that’s very important to who we are, and it’s central to what we do and how we do it. We don’t want to lose that.” Simon and his wife took over the business from his father, and are focused on carrying on his legacy. “Being able to carry on family businesses was something that was really important to us, because we’ve taken over that and just preserved the values that we’ve always had. And we’re very, very proud of that.”
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