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09/09/2019It was ten days of non-stop learning and networking for a group of progressive members of the Australian rock lobster industry who joined in Rabobank’s AU/NZ Rock Lobster Tour last month.
The tour got off to a flying start in Port Lincoln, South Australia, where the group explored the fishing fleet by boat, and visited several leading businesses in the region, including Coffin Bay Shellfish and Eyre Peninsula Seafood which is the largest producer and supplier of mussels in Australia.
Rabobank’s Seafood Commodity Sector Group chair, Geoff Adams, who co-hosted the tour with Seafood Commodity Sector Group member Jason Luckhurst, described all the visits included in the Port Lincoln leg of the tour as ‘awesome’, with plenty of knowledge sharing and opportunities explored, and the various hosts ‘going above and beyond’.
From there, the group headed off to Auckland in New Zealand, where NZ Wholesale client Sanford Ltd hosted the group at the early morning Fish Markets Auction before spending time showing them their fish processing operations while sharing their industry knowledge and insights.
On leaving Auckland, the group travelled through key coastal fishing areas of the North Island, before visiting a diverse range of seafood and land-based farming businesses at Castlepoint where they were shown the ropes by Anders and Emily Crofoot and local fisherman.
Jason Luckhurst said Anders and Emily were wonderful people with an amazing farming operation, Castlepoint Station. He added that everyone was also inspired by fisherman Dean Hatchart who overcame adversity to continue to run a successful rock lobster fishing business.
Next up was a road trip to Wellington to visit New Zealand’s biggest seafood exporter, Port Nicholson Fisheries.
Then the group flew south to Queenstown to join the Trans-Tasman Rock Lobster industry’s Conference where Rabobank hosted Netherlands-based Senior Seafood Analyst Gorjan Nikolik for a breakfast function, and RaboResearch Food & Agri General Manager Tim Hunt gave a presentation on ‘The Chinese Market – Rabobank Perspective’.