It’s an island!
Volker Kuntzsch, CEO, Sanford
There’s a lot of ocean around us. In fact, 96% of New Zealand is ocean. We have the fourth largest exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the world, and one of the few that does not overlap with any other country’s EEZ. Our oceans teem with a species diversity second to none, our fisheries management system is considered best in class, and we are home to an impressive variety of seabirds, marine mammals and fish. Not to mention the tremendous opportunity our oceans hold economically through protection and production.
Yet, we largely talk about land. We strategise, scrutinise, collaborate to maximise the value from that “4%”, trying to balance economic objectives with environmental pressures. The politicisation of land based values draws attention to the enormous wealth of opportunity and diversity under our feet. That must keep going.
However, it seems remiss to me how rarely New Zealand reflects on the vastness of ocean surrounding our home. We sometimes mention the beauty of our seas, the challenges our fishermen face and we discuss how sea level rise may impact on seaside property prices. But somewhere along the line, what remains out of sight simply stays out of mind.
This ocean, which currently serves as our moat, our first line of defence against viral infection and a huge sink for carbon and excess heat, certainly deserves a lot more attention. If the global events over the past few years are anything to go by, our moat is going to be priceless.
The potential for us to tap into the ability of our oceans, both environmentally and economically, to create sustainable value and health for every New Zealander is vast.
The urgent need to bring together differences and achieve a constructive, collaborative future for our oceans is precisely why Sanford, as a large publicly listed seafood company, is a partner of The Aotearoa Circle.
When I first came to New Zealand – I was born and raised in Namibia and have lived and worked around the world – I did so on the basis of this wonderful environment providing the most beautiful seafood coupled with the most hospitable and innovative spirit inherent to Kiwis. Kia ora! What could go wrong when you hit the ground running with such a head-start?
Well, working in the commercial fishing industry in New Zealand soon turned out to require thick skin and patience. Instead of pride and ambition, there was a lot of finger pointing going on, to some degree probably justified, but never constructive.
Now, from a marine perspective, climate change is our biggest natural capital challenge. No amount of finger pointing at or within the commercial fishing industry is going to solve that problem. Water temperatures are rising and the weather is more unpredictable. Our smaller fishing vessels have to seek shelter more often because they’re hampered by changing winds and waves. Algal blooms result from changes in nutrients in the water column driven by changing rainfall patterns on land, and warmer waters affect our aquaculture operations.
Rising water temperatures are already creating shifts in the distribution of fish species and marine mammals around our coastlines. Plastics are of growing concern to our marine environment.
This is not a list of what is bad, but a list of what forces of change we now reckon with. Agility is not a competitive strategy…it is a matter of survival individually and collectively. The risks we face and the action we must take cannot be achieved as isolated businesses or as ‘business as usual’.
It’s time we figure out how to collaborate for better outcomes beyond ourselves and beyond now. The ability to move away from our traditional measures of success and our individual company focus to capitalize on the benefits of trust and collaboration is essential in moving forward sustainably.
Here in the marine work stream of The Aotearoa Circle, my goal is to shift emphasis to our oceans – the largely forgotten 96% of New Zealand – and see stakeholders collaborating selflessly to create a single vision for our blue economy that protects and provides on behalf of us all.
Ultimately, we need to consider an Oceans Strategy (or Policy) for New Zealand, ideally to be administered by a Ministry for Oceans. We currently have various ministries with various mandates, listening to various sectors and various industries that deal with the oceans. There’s no common approach to treating our big blue backyard in a way that respects kaitiakitanga or our collective future. An Oceans Policy should consider our ecosystem across all impacts, from the mountain to the sea. We need a holistic approach that adds up to an outcome that every New Zealander should be able to buy into.
The management of our oceans requires agility to cope with changes at an ever-growing pace. It will require the involvement of all relevant stakeholders to create value for all, whilst protecting customary and property rights as a basis for ongoing investment into innovation and employment. Value encompasses the ability for local communities to continue deriving pleasure from marine resources, like people fishing from a kayak in the Waitemata Harbour and bringing home snapper for dinner. Value also encompasses the ability for companies to invest in processing facilities in regional New Zealand to produce face masks made from fish waste or to manufacture nutraceuticals made from Greenshell mussels.
A smart and successful Oceans Strategy will enable sustainable relationships with our oceans, fast-tracking much needed decisions surrounding the utilisation of water space to farm the most environmentally friendly protein while restoring the environment. As we see increasing pressure on land due to climate change, dependence on our ocean becomes ever more important. We will look to our oceans – our moat – to continue to provide food, many other products, jobs, pleasure and export earnings.
For example, the promotion of aquaculture through the creation of a more enabling environment, allowing for improved water space allocation, easier access to funding, and state-of-the-art infrastructure in manufacturing and logistics would immediately benefit existing operations.
Beyond that, we could be as bold as considering a national focus on seaweed that would range from identifying appropriate farming regions and methods to innovating farming technology and products like high value algae oil extracts or pharmaceuticals. Add seaweed’s potential to sequester carbon to the mix and we have a species that provides a convincing basis for a large scale multi-stakeholder project that would have benefits for the environment, the economy and the people.
These ideas are a start. Where we end up, well, the world is our oyster.
There is generally a good collaborative spirit in New Zealand, especially when you talk to a cross-sectoral group, including the Crown Research Institutes, a very innovative environment that has given rise to some game-changing ideas like Precision Seafood Harvesting and SpatNZ, the world’s only mussel hatchery.
Initiatives like Te Hono, The Aotearoa Circle, and the Climate Leaders Coalition, are all groups that want better economic, social and environmental outcomes for New Zealand. They are encouraged by like-mindedness across sectors.
The marine work stream of The Aotearoa Circle now has to turn this spirit into action. With climate change being our greatest challenge, the initiative we need to drive is the adaptation of our fishing and aquaculture industries to likely developments we anticipate. Our adaptation strategy will probably be a mix of:
mitigating the risks posed to us by the changing environment in which we operate,
transitioning to a business model that accounts for the impacts of lasting change,
contributing to targets in carbon emission reductions.
New Zealand’s ocean – our moat – is positioned to protect and sustain the country into an unknown future. There has never been a more perfect time than now for the innovative spirit and caring nature of kiwis to navigate the course for its success.