We’ve been building to this for over 50 years and done pretty well getting here.

In the cuisine world, we’ve earned the mantle of the world’s best salmon with our fish raved about by international Michelin-starred chefs and local legends like Al Brown and Annabel Langbein.

“It’s seriously good, I mean you just don’t have to do anything to it…..it’s pure, delicious and any time you prepare it, people are happy.  What more could you want from a product,” said Al Brown.

It’s also seriously good for you and is a staple for renowned nutritionist Claire Turnbull and her family.

“If you want to boost your mood, and your brainpower, make sure you eat more New Zealand salmon.  Salmon is absolutely packed with Omega 3s. In two 250g servings of salmon, you get all the Omega 3s you need. You also get heaps of iodine and selenium. And it’s a great source of protein.”

And then there’s the farmers – a clever bunch of kiwis who live for the sea and have built an industry from scratch that is celebrated for its green credentials.

“I love the sea. I’m a marine scientist, a conservationist, a sailor, a kayaker, a diver, and I’m also a proud salmon farmer,” said Mark Preece who’s been farming salmon for over 20 years.  

“The longer I do it, the more my passion grows.  What we’re doing here is pretty special.”

Mark and his fellow farmers are a huge part of why we’re the only country to have the whole-of-industry achieve the Monterey Bay Seafood Watch programme, green light, Best Choice rating.

“Overall the New Zealand salmon farming industry is characterized by strong management systems and pristine marine and freshwater ecosystems,” Seafood Watch concluded.

Seafood Watch is ‘the’ authority on sustainable seafood in North America and a green light from them is a huge deal, as is the recognition from the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) and Eat Lancet, of aquaculture’s vital role in feeding a growing global population.

This combination of sustainable, nutritious and delicious has made our salmon New Zealand’s highest value produce, generating about $1.4m per hectare.

You don’t have to be Nostradamus to see the opportunity this offers New Zealand.

We currently produce around 0.5% of the global supply of salmon, by sustainably farming a fraction of our coastline, which generates around $260million per year to New Zealand.

Global demand far outstrips what we are able to supply and grows stronger every day.

To meet that demand, we need to grow our production and to do that we need new farms.  For the past 20 years, we’ve been hamstrung by a lack of suitable new space and long divisive application processes.

When it comes to salmon farming, location is vital: you need cool, deep, oxygenated water for happy fish. Strong currents to disperse organic material and the right site to minimise ecological effects and conflicts with fellow water users.

The social contest for coastal waters makes any new farms in in-shore locations unlikely, so we’ve joined with Government, Iwi, scientists, and environmental advocates to look beyond the headlands for the next frontier.

It’s an approach welcomed by the international environmental organisation, The Nature Conservancy, who has identified open ocean aquaculture as an important source of meeting growing global demand for seafood in harmony with ocean ecosystems.

Rapid developments in technology and a better understanding of the prevailing environmental conditions, mean open ocean salmon farming is about to become a reality with three resource consent applications lodged to farm salmon in the open ocean off New Zealand.

This could see the industry producing huge returns for communities and the economy in the next decade, and help fill and soften the economic and social fallout from the pending aluminium smelter closure in Southland.

Like every marine farm, these applications will be assessed on their merits by environmental experts and if deemed suitable, will become a part of a greener, smarter New Zealand future, envisioned by the Ministry for Primary Industries.

“Aquaculture gives us healthy, high value foods and when we’re farming the right things in the right places it is absolutely sustainable,” said MPI’s Director of Aquaculture Mat Bartholomew.

“The future New Zealand economy has lower emissions, produces less waste and is based on sustainable production and open ocean salmon farming can be part of that.

“It gives us a unique opportunity to an enormous scale of growth, with a relatively small-scale development.”

“We need to back ourselves. But it’s not a case of out of sight out of mind - we still have to do it right, look after the environment and take an evidence-based approach.”

This stance is in-line with the Environmental Defence Society which acknowledges it as a ‘novel development’ and a potential game-changer for the sector with improved biosecurity and social outcomes, but carries a need for us to better understand the impacts on deeper sea ecosystems.

We agree too. And are drawing on the knowledge of world experts in the field.

Respected New Zealand Marine Scientist Dr Nigel Keeley, who has been studying seabed effects for 25 years, said open ocean farming would help mitigate the seabed and water column effects.

“Salmon is a business. Some people like it, some people don’t. But if you’re going to farm it, the open ocean is a step in the right direction,” Dr Keeley said.

“A more dispersive system is a good thing. I believe it is more sustainable.”

“Strong currents mean the organic waste is more diluted and is dispersed wider so you don’t get the concentration or build-up you get under some in-shore farms.”

“You still get benthic effects, but you don’t get organic accumulation. You get changes in geochemistry and macrofauna (animals), but because you don’t get the build-up of carbon, the sediments stay very active so when you move or fallow the farms they recover quickly. The farms we’ve studied have fully recovered or returned to a fairly natural condition in seven months.”

Dr Keeley has witnessed the effects of open ocean farming first hand, having spent the past five years monitoring the environmental effects of the world’s largest salmon farming industry (c. 2 million tonnes) for the Norwegian government organisation, The Institute of Marine Research,

“We’ve studied individual high-capacity farms that produce nearly as much as the entire NZ industry put together and could barely detect effects in the water column from 100m away. It’s dispersed and quickly taken up by plankton and other organisms.”

The journey into the open ocean evokes the pioneering spirit of our seafaring forefathers and aligns with values of the South Island’s largest Iwi Ngāi Tahu.

“For centuries, the sea surrounding Te Waipounamu (the South Island) and Rakiura (Stewart Island) has provided Ngāi Tahu a bountiful supply of food for both sustenance and trade. Ngāi Tahu has an intimate knowledge of, connection to, and respect for the sea.”

“In everything we do we strive to care for, protect, and nurture the environment so it can prosper through the generations. We invest considerable effort into supporting the sustainable management of fisheries. This is vital for the future of the business as well as the values of the Iwi (Māori tribe). 

“There is no doubt that offshore salmon farming is a very exciting opportunity for the prosperity of the wider Murihiku (Southland) community. Offshore aquaculture is seen nationally and internationally as the way forward.”

These benefits have also been recognised by the Government in their Aquaculture Strategy which backs the practice to create thousands of new jobs and generate an additional $3 billion by 2035.

On the surface that might seem like a massive expansion, but it’s set to come from farming the equivalent space of about two average sheep and beef farms (which would generate about $120,000 from the same amount of space).

We love steak and a Sunday roast as much as the next Kiwi, but with a return 16,000 times greater per hectare, it makes sense to be serving more surf with our turf.

We’re learning from the best global examples, and adapting it to our unique environment. But like our forefathers, we’ve taken to the seas to find a bright sustainable future for our communities, our environment, and our country.

Like Rocket Lab, we’re shooting for the stars.

And like Peter Jackson might say, lights, camera – it’s time for action!