Seafood processing worth $84m to Hawke's Bay, says Berl

Seafood processing is worth $84 million to Hawke's Bay

Seafood processing is worth $84 million to Hawke's Bay and Gisborne according to a Berl report commissioned by an industry lobby group.

It was also responsible for 78 direct full-time jobs, 114 indirect jobs and 47 jobs due to the money spent by those employees.

Nationally, the seafood industry has a total value of $4.18 billion, the report said.

Fisheries Inshore New Zealand chief executive Jeremy Helson said the report confirmed the importance of commercial fishing to New Zealand.

"The Ministry for Primary Industries says exports alone are expected to reach $2.3 billion by 2025," Dr Helson said.

"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."

The report, which used catch data from the Ministry for Primary Industries, measured a five-year average, showing 13,468 people directly employed in fishing and seafood processing - 0.7 per cent of New Zealand employment.

Seafood is New Zealand's fifth-largest export commodity by value and represents 3.2 per cent of total exports.

The report included fishing and seafood harvesting but excluded aquaculture, which has revenues of $500 million.

"In the inshore fishery, snapper is the top commercial catch, and rock lobster and paua the highest value shellfish species," Dr Helson said.

The largest, deep-water commercial catch was hoki, accounting for 38 per cent of the revenue from deep-water fisheries.

"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."

Nationally, the seafood-processing industry had greater employment than the fruit and vegetable-processing industry and similar employment numbers to the pipfruit industry.