Commercial fishing industry worth more than $4 billion to NZ economy – BERL

Published: 8 August 2017

A new report from economic researchers BERL has confirmed the importance of the commercial fishing industry to New Zealand.

The report, The economic contribution of commercial fishing to the New Zealand economy, shows commercial fishing is worth $4.18 billion to the New Zealand economy.

Chief executive of Fisheries Inshore New Zealand, Dr Jeremy Helson, said exports alone are expected to reach $2.3 billion by 2025.

“Add the contribution to the domestic market through jobs, investment in infrastructure and the sectors supporting the industry and you have a significant contributor to the New Zealand economy,” said Helson.

The report highlighted the value of commercial fishing to regional New Zealand.

Processing alone was worth $984 million to Canterbury, $919 million to Marlborough/Nelson/Tasman and $248 million to Waikato.

The report measured a five year average and showed 13,468 people were directly employed by seafood and fishing processing alone.

“It is about jobs – and particularly jobs in regional New Zealand. The better the industry does, the better off fishing communities are around the country,” said Helson.

Snapper was the top inshore commercial catch, and rock lobster and paua the highest value shellfish species.

The largest deep water commercial catch was of hoki and this species alone accounts for 38 percent of the deep water fisheries value.

Aquaculture - which has revenue of $500 million annually - was not included in the report.

The report was derived from catch data supplied by the Ministry for Primary Industries.

The report; The economic contribution of commercial fishing to the New Zealand economy is available here

And a summary of the report is available here