A plan to develop salmon farming on a hydro dam on the South Island's West Coast is almost up on its feet.
Westfleet wharf Photo: Supplied
The director of Greymouth fishing company Westfleet, which is driving the project, said it hoped to have a commercial operation up and running within the next 18 months.
The government said it was a proposal finally beyond the rhetoric that has come from the coast in the last decade.
Former deep-sea fisherman and Westfleet director, Craig Boote, said he has his wife to thank for an idea raised three years ago.
"She said, 'Why can't you grow salmon on the West Coast?' And I said, 'Don't be so bloody ridiculous', but as I did a bit more research New Zealand salmon farming actually started on the West Coast, down in Lake Kaniere out of Hokitika.
Mr Boote said 'salmon ranching' was trialled in which they sent the fish out to sea and hoped that about two or three percent came back.
Salmon is already farmed in Marlborough, Canterbury and Southland.
Mr Boote said he knew little about salmon so Westfleet engaged Blenheim firm Aquaculture Direct to do some early feasibility and to scout for locations. They found a hydro dam on the Arnold River, fed by Lake Brunner, and on which early trials have been running.
Grey District Mayor Tony Kokshoorn said the council worked with the power company which has allowed trials to grow the Chinook salmon on the dam over the past two years.
"So we're working with Trustpower that has a dam on the Arnold River here on the West Coast, and everything is looking good for salmon farming."
Mr Boote said they were now at the second stage of taste testing.
"We've got 40 or 50 fish up there in tanks that we're treating like our own children - we're just really looking after these little animals and just seeing how they behave in that water, particularly with the warmer waters we're finding, we're just waiting to see if we're going to have any mortalities and we haven't which has been quite surprising."
Mr Boote said they plan to seek government funding to take the project to the next stage, which was development of a purification system to remove, before harvest, the "earthy" flavour infused in the salmon from fresh water tannins.
The Regional Economic Development Minister said the proposal was on the table at a meeting in Wellington of West Coast mayors yesterday.
Shane Jones, who was also a former chair of Sealord, says it was one of the more promising ideas to have emerged from the Coast in decades.
"I think everyone should bear in mind there's been a lot of rhetoric over the last nine to 10 years, in fact right back to Pete Hodgson's time as Helen Clark's aquaculture minister.
"This time around, the Coast are pushing on an open door, as they seek to bring proposals forward to diversify sources of future revenue, but also create jobs."
Mr Boote said it was too early to say just how many, but it was possible that up to 50 more jobs could be developed.
Mr Jones said the proposal needed to go through the proper due diligence process, but he encouraged the sharing of ideas in investable form sooner rather than later.
Mr Boote said Westfleet - which was owned by his company Endurance Fishing and Nelson based Sealord, was looking at a $10 million investment to take the project to full commercial operation of about 500 tonnes a year.
Early indications were a return of about $10 million annually.
Westfleet's factory in Greymouth was capable of processing salmon, so more than half the critical infrastructure was in place already, Mr Boote said.
"We've got 66 percent of this complete, we've got the state of the art factory 18 minutes away from potentially where the farm's going to be and we have the market. I've got people kicking my door down every day, hearing about salmon and wanting the product."
Now they just needed the farm space. Mr Boote said the large volume of water through the dam creates the oxygen levels salmon need.
He said part of the project was also analysing environmental impacts, including how to deal with fish faeces and waste from food. He said it was "top of the list" for Aquaculture Direct.
"With any environmental group we need to make sure we can satisfy them that we're going to deal with that before we even push the start button."
Mr Boote said analysis so far meant he was confident they would meet requirements.
