Dressed to impress in a suit and tie, Brian Kiddie's attire was far from normal for the local fisherman, but he was set to meet His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales at an awards ceremony for conservation champions.
The Tauranga man was named as a finalist in the prestigious
Seabird Smart Awards, which recognised and celebrated fishermen who demonstrated leadership or innovation to minimise risks to seabirds and dedication to best-practice, seabird-smart fishing methods.
The awards, managed by Southern Seabird Solutions Trust, were held in the afternoon ahead of an evening event, where award winners were able to meet and talk with Prince Charles. During the evening ceremony at Government House, Mr Kiddie spent about 15 minutes talking to Prince Charles, who is the patron of the trust.
"We were talking in a group to other people in the industry and from the Government then the Prince was introduced and he came over and casually began to chat with the group," Mr Kiddie said. "He was a lot more casual than I imagined and he spoke with a lot of people in the room. He was very pleasant. It was a new experience and I really enjoyed it."
Mr Kiddie was nominated by an anonymous source for his inventive ways of minimising risks to seabirds, while he sets his fishing lines.
