Volunteers give away free fish heads and frames at a Kai Ika Project event in Hawke's Bay.
A weekly food giveaway programme in Hawke’s Bay is set to be gone by Christmas if a new sponsor is not found.
The Kai Ika Project has given away over 10,000kg of free food across Hawke’s Bay that would otherwise go to waste since it launched in the target="_self" rel="" title="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-today/news/free-fish-head-giveaways-every-week-in-flaxmere-hawkes-bay-the-first-step-in-exploring-other-free-food-sources/LI4U4GUZRNACZOLK2SPATC3QDQ/">region in December 2024.
Once a week since then, Kai Ika Project volunteers have distributed fish parts in Flaxmere, Camberley, Wairoa and Mahia.
But if a new sponsor doesn’t come aboard with fresh funding, the free fish will stop by Christmas Day.
The project was originally started in Auckland in 2016 by LegaSea, the NZ Sport Fishing Council, the Outboard Boating Club of Auckland and the Papatūānuku Kōkiri Marae. It spread to Wellington in 2022.
LegaSea communications adviser Chris Scott said the project couldn’t run in Hawke’s Bay without the help of current sponsors such as ITM Napier and Sustainable Hawke’s Bay.
But even with their help, there was a $15,000 hole in its finances. Without finding that money, the Kai Ika Project could not feed Hawke’s Bay communities for free.
“This is people that are going to be missing out, they rely on this food now for their weekly dinners. So, we’re going to be taking that off their plates, which is a real bummer,” he said.
“I don’t want to do it.”
Scott said the project was always going to be running at a deficit, but it was never about money; it was about removing waste and feeding people.
The Kai Ika Project’s fish comes from Star Foods in Napier and Saltwater Seafoods in Hastings. Scott said those businesses were cutting into their sales by providing the fish.
The fish heads and frames still have meat and nourishment on them and would otherwise go into fertiliser or fishmeal for animal feed.
“That’s not a bad outcome,” said Scott.
“But that means more carbon emissions from the breakdown of the materials, whereas eating that meat cuts that out and feeds people.”
He said LegaSea’s goals included getting rid of bottom trawling, dredging and seine fishing, which he called destructive fishing techniques.
He admitted that much of the fish given away by the Kai Ika Project was caught using those techniques.
“But it’s been caught, and it’s either going to be wasted or it can go to feed people.
“I think that’s where we’ve all found this real common ground where we can be like, ‘Hey, look, it doesn’t matter how it’s caught, it’s been caught.’
“It’s better for it to go to people to feed families than it is to go to fertiliser or fish meal.”
Scott also pointed to the cost of fishing, saying Kai Ika got fresh fish to people without the massive costs of fuel, bait and boats.
“And then you’re not guaranteed a catch.
“At least this is a way of us putting it on the plates of people that really have depended on fish their whole lives.
“I’d hate to see it go down.”
Any businesses interested in sponsoring the Kai Ika Project are encouraged to get in touch with Scott through the project’s Facebook page or through LegaSea.
Jack Riddell is a multimedia journalist with Hawke’s Bay Today and has worked in radio and media in the UK, Germany, and New Zealand.