South's lobster on east's menus

Live lobsters bred in Dunedin are on menus at restaurants in China and Japan this week.

The Fiordland Lobster Company began exporting from its new south Dunedin premises last week.

Its first 600kg of lobster was sent to Tokyo and a second 600kg consignment went to China.

Fiordland Lobster Company chief executive Mike Schuck said less than 20 per cent of Dunedin lobster was exported, and he wanted to see that increase closer to the national average - 99 per cent exported.

"Gaining better prices means we can pay the fishermen more for their catch," he said.

Unlike New Zealand's wetfish industry, which is in a slump, lobster prices are strong and the quota has been increased 25 per cent after being cut in recent years.

Nationally, lobster fishermen get $44 to $58 a kilogram for lobster. Dunedin prices are at the lower end of the scale.

Live lobsters fetch about US$40 ($66) a kilo overseas, but Asian restaurants may be charging diners as much as US$120 (nearly $200). .

Unlike the rest of the country, where tails must be about 54mm wide at the tail-cusp closest to the body, Dunedin-caught lobsters can be taken at a "concessionary" size tail length of 127mm, said Schuck.

This was because once Dunedin lobsters reached the minimum national size, they would have migrated from the fishing area.

The Dunedin season is from June 21 to November 19, but Schuck understood local lobster-catchers wanted to extend the season - not to land more lobster, but to have more time to do so - in line with the rest of the country.

Schuck said 95 per cent of the company's exports went to China and the remainder to Japan.

Ngai Tahu Seafood, which has access to Dunedin lobster quota, is understood to be preparing to export live lobster this season from its Sawyers Bay site.

Schuck said that after the lobster season finished, the company might offer some wetfish-processing facilities to fishermen, having spent more than $350,000 on lobster equipment at South Dunedin.

Privately-owned Fiordland Lobster was started in Fiordland in 1989 by a group of fishermen and investors, including a Japanese businessman who saw potential for exporting lobster live to Japan.

At that stage, lobster was being exported frozen.

The company operates from Te Anau, processing 300 tonnes of lobster a year from 28 boats.

The Dunedin operation has contracted to take 60 tonnes a year from six boats.

The lobsters are kept in crates for up to 48 hours, covered in filtered salt water, to recover from the stress of capture before being exported.