New venture to use Whanganui's port

Cockles on Horowhenua's coast. Photo/Ashleigh Collis

A fishing venture starting off the Foxton coast plans to use Whanganui port to unload its catch, citing the Foxton bar as too dangerous for its 17 metre boat.

Cloudy Bay Clams says it will start clam fishing this month in waters up to eight metres deep in a 26 kilometre stretch, equally split north and south of Foxton.

Currently it fishes in areas near Marlborough and Canterbury.

The company's marketing manager, Dion Brown, said they had looked at docking at Foxton Beach, but the Foxton bar at the Manawatu River mouth was dangerous for the boat when fully laden. The clams would be trucked from Whanganui to Cloudy Bay's Marlborough base for processing.

Mr Brown said the company had more than 2000 tonnes of clam quota within the Foxton area.

"We intend to gradually develop the fishery over time and do not expect to be getting close to the available quota initially," he said.

Mr Brown said surveys of the Foxton coast clearly showed the area held a lot of very high quality shellfish and confirmed the area as a fantastic place to fish.

He said fishing would take place all year round. The quality of the shellfish remained constant throughout the year. The company will fish for four species - Diamond Shell, Moon Shell, Storm Clam and Tua Tua.

The company is a New Zealand pioneer in harvesting clams, developing its own hydraulic winnowing rake. The rake is towed along the seabed, liquefying sand and gathering the clams without sea-bed compression or damage. Mr Brown said the rake had minimal impact on the sea bed.

About 85 per cent of its catch was exported, mainly to Australia and Asia. In New Zealand, the clams were sold mainly to restaurants, and the company was planning to expand to retail outlets.