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Fish must be handled with meticulous care at all
stages to fetch top market prices, as practiced
here at the OPC Fish and Lobster plant. The OP
Columbia plant packages green mussels.
PROCESSING FOR EXPORT
While there can be no question that Mercury
Bay is close to fantastic fishing grounds, finding
a market has always been an issue. While the
local industry almost certainly started up many
years ago to provide fish for the bush camps,
that was definitely a limited market. Fish were
smoked and sent to Auckland on the early
trading boats such as the
Lady Jocelyn
. One
enterprising early crayfisherman (see above
right) even had plans of sending salted crayfish
to China. History does not record the success
of his venture.
The 1980s saw crayfish exported live to
Japan. They took the smaller sizes with
larger fish going to Australia. Wetfish have
been exported to overseas countries including
the United States.
The first significant fish processing factory
was in Coghill Street in the building now
occupied by the Monkey House Theatre.
Operating under a number of names
including Don Scobie Seafoods and Tabletop
Seafoods, the inevitable odours emanating
from an operation of this type caused
numerous complaints; in 1983 operations
moved to the present site on the corner
of South Highway, with three different
companies amalgamating to form one
operation, OP Columbia. At present there are
three companies operating in Whitianga:
OP Columbia, OPC Fish and Lobster, and
TLC Ltd.
WEST COAST AQUACULTURE
PROCESSED HERE
The development of aquaculture brought a
new industry to town. Mussel farms are now
a big feature on the Coromandel Peninsula,
although they are at present concentrated on
the western coast. The mussels themselves are
brought to Whitianga by truck and processed
at OP Columbia. In the early years of the
industry they were even trucked here from the
Marlborough Sounds. Currently the mussels
are cooked in halfshell form before being
frozen and sent to overseas markets, primarily
Asia, the USA and Europe. NIWA have been
researching fish farming of kingfish and hapuku
and are virtually ready to make the technology
available to a suitable company. The Thames
Coromandel District Council has indicated
support for this type of aquaculture on the
Coromandel Peninsula, although some have
reservations.
And what of the dreams of the crayfisherman
from the 1930s who thought China was a prime
market? It turns out he was onto a winner but
had the years a little bit out! Virtually all prime
crayfish caught and processed in Mercury Bay
now ends up on the table in China!
This boxnet service vessel heads out
to check the net despite rough seas.
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COROMANDEL LIFE 2015 SPRING/HOLIDAY
Photo: DiveZone Whitianga