Sanford seeks $25M boost from tuna expansion

By Phil Boeyen, ShareChat Business News Editor

Thursday 12th July 2001

Fishing company Sanford (NZSE: SAN) is spending $35 million on two new fishing vessels to widen its skipjack tuna catch in international waters.

The two large American ocean-going vessels carry a crew of 20 and are capable of staying at sea for weeks at a time, catching and freezing up to 1400 tonnes of fish products on board.

The company plans to use the boats to cast their nets further into the Pacific and says once they are fully operational they should add around $25 million to annual revenue.

MD, Eric Barratt, says each boat has its own helicopter and the latest in fish finding technology, designed to help track schools of skipjack and other tuna as they migrate through the western and central Pacific.

"The vessels will be operating in Pacific waters for more than nine months a year but will visit their New Zealand base during the summer months when the skipjack are at the southern most part of their migration.

Mr Barratt says the vessels will follow the skipjack fishery throughout the Pacific and will land their catch at one of the various tuna canneries, ranging from American Samoa, Fiji, the Marshall Islands and other areas at different times of the season.

The 75-metre long vessels have formed part of the American tuna boat fleet based in San Diego, California, in recent years.

One of the boats will sail from American Samoa on its first fishing trip under Sanford ownership later this week while the second boat will return to New Zealand for docking before sailing on its first fishing trip later in the year.

Mr Barratt says the purchase is a significant investment for Sanford and represents a major expansion of New Zealand's fishing interests into the important, international pacific tuna fishery.

"Our decision to enter these additional fisheries will allow our company to further expand our horizons internationally, not just in catching operations, but also in reaching more global markets."

"We are already liaising with a variety of foreign fishing agencies, seeking and finalising licensing arrangements within the fishing zones of various Pacific states."

Skipjack represents the largest proportion of world tuna catches. During the past international prices for the fish have varied from a low of US$400 to a high of US$1050 per tonne, while earlier this year prices were about US$850 per tonne.

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