Te Arawa aims to be top in seafood

Te Arawa will open a new seafood store selling fresh seafood and fish and chip takeaways at the Redwood Centre on Monday.

Te Arawa Fresh is owned by Te Arawa Fisheries, the entity established to manage the tribe's fisheries assets after settlement with the Crown of Te Arawa's claims to commercial fisheries under the Maori Fisheries Act 2004.

Te Arawa Fisheries chairman Ron Roberts said: "We are committed to the development of Te Arawa people and the Rotorua community as a whole, and believe our Te Arawa Fresh store will make a positive contribution to the region."

Te Arawa Fisheries general manager Shane Heremaia said the organisation believed there was room in Rotorua for a specialist store providing the highest quality seafood.

"Te Arawa Fresh will not only meet the demand in Rotorua for quality seafood, but will also provide much-needed employment for our community. Our aim is to be the best seafood outlet operator, not only in Rotorua, but in New Zealand."

He said the store would be run by Anthony Palmer, who has won the Golden Knife title for top fish filleter in the national fish filleting championships three years in a row.

"Anthony lives in Tauranga, and will pick up fish from the wharf in the mornings and transport it to our store to be processed," he said.

The fisheries assets transferred to Te Arawa Fisheries in September 2006 comprised $3.1 million cash, $7.1 million of fishing quota and $13.3 million of shares in Aotearoa Fisheries Limited.

Mr Heremaia said income from these assets was used to provide benefits to Te Arawa people through scholarships, iwi grants, seafood for tangihanga and environmental initiatives.