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| The Tangaroa Retail Store in Ahuriri |
Tangaroa Seafoods is synonymous with premium quality seafood, so naturally I wanted to know their story and what it takes to bring the best seafood to the plate. I met with co-owner Chris Robinson at the Tangaroa Ahuriri Retail store and here's what I learnt from Chris.
How did you get into fishing?
A passion for the sea and fishing was something my uncle imparted on me. I spent a lot of my school holidays in Cape Palliser which has a very rugged coast. There's lots of saline and wildlife. Interesting social life that the fishing community had - quite interactive and close-knit. It was very different to Stokes Valley.
When did fishing turn into a career?
The passion and love for catching fish, evolved into the career. I wanted to fishing with my uncle, and he said get a trade and something to fall back on. I carried on at school and got a Bachelor of Science. Marine Biology, Oceanography and Ecology. The advantage of doing this is understanding the ecosystem and how fish behave and why fish do certain things. I understand some basic principles of why fish are where they are and when they are likely to be where we catch them. That's helps our continuity of catching and supply.
When did you come to Hawke's Bay?
The decision to come to Hawke's Bay was based on my understanding of the water currents and the physical conditions here. The physical conditions off the East Coast here mean that you can find a lot of fish in certain locations if you know where to find them.
What fishing vessels have you had?
I did a year on a long line vessel around most of New Zealand and got my Skippers ticket and then a friend of mine Malcolm Blair who owned Divers World in Wellington who I worked for over a few of the uni holidays as a keen diver. He raised a vessel off New Plymouth. We overhauled the vessel, a 42 foot trawler and converted it to a longliner. I started worked as contract skipper and was within 18 months I bought it out. That was called the Barron from the Barron Fish Company in 1980.
In those days there was no GPS, no chart plotters and very little technology in general. We had radars and sounders only. In finding offshore grounds we had to memorise where the seafloor was. We did it the hard way. I know the whole sea floor, and can even tell where the charts are wrong. From the Barron to now we've had a procession of 15 vessels which currently leave us with five operating vessels.
What's important to maintaining the quality of the fish?
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| Straight onto ice right on the vessel |
We try and have the vessels unloading during the night avoiding the heat of the day so that the fish is available for purchase on the same day. There are some complex logistics involved around managing getting the fish from boat to their final destination.
To maintain the quality chain, when the fish is landed, the bins are de-iced, weighed and re-iced with fresh ice and stored in our holding chiller at just below zero until they're processed. The two key points are that by re-icing we are maintaining the temperature of the fish and by having ice through it, the ice will evaporate first and provides humidity.
This is important, because if you lose the quality of the fish it can't be recovered so it's critical that every point in the chain puts quality first.
What happens once the fish is landed?
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| The Tangaroa Processing Room in Ahuriri |
In our processing room, our fish is cut to order at the last minute making the fish as fresh as possible for restaurants. In the shop it's cut continuously as demand requires. If you come in at 10am, the fish will have been cut within hours.
When our fish is cut, most of our fish is packed into polystyrene containers with a bag of ice to maintain the temperature. Most of our deliveries to our customers is done via chilled transport company 'Be Cool' and out of town we use 'Big Chill'.
If you're lucky enough to be local, we recommend you bring in your own chilli bin or buy it at the end of the day on your way home from work.
Tell us about the fishing off Hawke's Bay's East Coast?
We are in the transition zone between the northland and southland current that comes up. We are at the southern range of the snapper, we are at the northern range of the Warehou.
At different times of the year we get a wide range of species available on the coast here with different concentrations and congregations for their spawning and the different species spawn at different times during the year.
In 1986, the government introduced the QMS to regulate and to provide for the sustainable utilisation of the fisheries. We fish under the Quota Management System. Since 1986, quite a few species that had shown signs of overfishing, have recovered and are now more abundant. We get to directly see the effects of this over time. We've also seen other species become less abundant where the Ministry have reduced the TAC (Total Allowable Catch).
The longterm management of our fisheries are very good, the short term micro management there is plenty of room for improvement. We fish to a fishing plan, which includes the vessels that we use, the areas that we fish, the species that we target for. The catch mix that we're chasing changes.
What makes up your fishing fleet and what's the importance of long lining?
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| Torea vessel - an inshore trawler |
We've got the five vessels.
Torea - an inshore close to home trawler.
Pacific Challenger - is the freeranging vessel. Can be at sea up to 8 days from first catch. Out to the Chathams.
Moonshadow II - is an auto long liner. Locally targets bluenose, groper, alphonsino, trumpeter.
Kobus - is an auto long linter. More of the ranges to the Chathams Islands over the summer period.
Pacific Explorer - is an auto long liner, just being converted from a trawler to a long-liner. Main target is now for Ling and Ribaldo.
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| Long Line caught fish |
The benefits of a long liner is you get a better quality fish because it's nots damaged by squashing in the trawl and the fish is not physically stressed when caught. We put them into an ice slurry straight away to reduce the core temperature of the fish as quickly as possible to preserve it's condition and freshness. The are onboard ice-makers and built in slurry tanks.
Most of our fish is cased and iced to preserve the quality and the fish holds are chilled to just below zero degrees to preserve the freshness. We do the shorter trips to ensuring the quality of the landed fish is maintained. For Tangaroa, we tend to take the last one or two days catch and present to our customers the freshest export quality fish available in the market anywhere in New Zealand.
Where's the best place to go for Fish and Chips?
I recommend these places if you're after consistent fresh supply.
Havelock North
Haumoana Fish Supply
Waimarama Store
Hastings
Macs Fish Supply
Deluxe Fish and Chips
Napier
Colin at The Pirimai Chippy
What fish do Hawke's Bay local love the most?
Hawke's Bays most popular fish is Gurnard. It's a beautifully eating fish. When's it's fresh and done well. That's closely followed by Terakihi. Any of the species of fish when fresh can be well worth the effort of cooking them. There's interesting textures and interesting flavours.
The unknown or lesser known species that are just as good as the top-end species. Southern Boar fish, Pig fish, Rays Bream, Gemfish, White Warehou. Ring the store on 833 5820 to check availability on the day with any of our retail store team. Glenys, Stevie, Margaret, Sally and Karen will even help you out with a recipe if you ask.
Last question, what's the biggest fish you've caught?
It was a 400+ kg Black Marlin caught off the North Cape on our game vessel Marlin Magic. The second biggest was an 87Kg Yellowfin Tuna caught in Hawaii.
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| Inside the Tangaroa Seafoods Ahuriri Retail Store |
