Science Centres: Fisheries

Our kingfish fingerlings being delivered to Island Aquafarms Ltd in the Marlborough Sounds for on-growing. The whole growth cycle from egg to 3 kg marketable fish takes about 18 months.

NIWA’s aquaculture research facility at Bream Bay has achieved a New Zealand first, producing commercial quantities of yellowtail kingfish.

With the supply this season of 212 000 fingerlings (finger-sized juvenile fish) to customers in Northland and the Marlborough Sounds, "we have made the leap from this being a research activity, to being a viable commercial undertaking," says Dr Andrew Forsythe, manager of our Bream Bay Aquaculture Park.

This is the first time a truly marine finfish has been cultured in New Zealand and our production of fingerlings is providing the platform for a whole new aquaculture industry.

This success has been achieved through careful research into kingfish physiology, nutrition, and reproductive biology, and continual refinement of husbandry techniques. In the last year, we have improved larval survival by 5 to 10 fold and overcome husbandry problems to consistently produce high quality fingerlings. We are able to tailor the production of fingerlings to fish-farmers’ needs by manipulating the spawning cycles of our wild-caught brood stock.

"These fingerlings are as good as those from the hatcheries in South Australia, which have had considerably more experience," says Mr Kent Inglis, Managing Director of Island Aquafarms Ltd. "Growth rates are good, with the most recent fingerlings we received growing from 5 g to 70 g in just 40 days."

Kingfish is the first of several high-value species we anticipate launching on to the New Zealand aquaculture scene. Through our aquaculture facilities at Bream Bay, Mahanga Bay, and Silverstream, we are collaborating with industry to commercialise other emerging species, such as paua, and to increase the quality, quantity, and value of existing aquaculture products.

"Our ambition is to build a vibrant, diversified, and sustainable aquaculture sector for New Zealand that is less reliant on high-volume, low-value products like mussels," says Dr Forsythe. "The success with kingfish marks a significant step in achieving that."