Tauranga skipper Bert Aitken retires after 43 years in fishing industry

Bert Aitken is retiring after 43 years working in the fishing industry. Photo / Alex Cairns

After 43 years working at sea, commercial skipper Robert ‘Bert’ Aitken has “never” been seasick.

The 65-year-old Tauranga man has retired this week and says the only time he felt sick on the ocean was after having “a few red wines” when it was “really rough”.

“But that was probably just from drinking alcohol, I suppose.”

Aitken has been working in the fishing industry for 43 years, spending the majority of that time at commercial seafood company Sanford. Wednesday was his last day.

He says retiring feels “surreal” but “it probably won’t sink in for six months”.

Aitken is looking forward to spending more time with his family and his wife, Dene Aitken, as his work schedule meant he would spend two weeks away on the boat and two weeks at home.

“She’s been doing the hard yards too.”

Bert Aitken grew up in Mount Maunganui and now lives with his wife, Dene Aitken, in Tauranga. Photo / Alex Cairns

Aitken, who grew up in Mount Maunganui, said he came from a fishing family. As a surfer, he also “loved the ocean”.

He started his career as an unqualified deckhand, eventually working his way up to become a skipper.

For a typical fishing trip, Aitken would travel from Tauranga to Auckland on a Wednesday. The boat would then leave Thursday morning and not return until the following Wednesday.

Everything needed to be organised beforehand, including checking the weather, making a plan on where to fish and getting ice and bins, he said.

Bert Aitken pictured with his two crew members Mike Jones (left) and Matangaro "Mata" Ben (right). Photo / Supplied

He and his two crew members, Matangaro “Mat”’ Ben and Mike Jones, would then head out.

Aitken said they fished on the East Coast, anywhere between Cape Brett in the Bay of Islands and Cape Runaway.

“It just depends where the fish are and what time of year it is and weather conditions.”

The crew aimed to catch 15 tonnes of fish per trip - snapper, gurnard, John Dory and trevally.

“You don’t always succeed ... a lot of the time you go to the wrong place or something and you’ve got to actually rethink the whole strategy, but you get used to it.”

The crew would return on a Wednesday afternoon, unload, and then head out again on Thursday.

Asked what changes he had seen over the years, Aitken said “the best thing that ever happened was they invented GPSs.”

“In those days, we’d get the old chart out ... now you’ve got it all on a computer. It’s a lot easier.”

He also said weather forecasts were now “pretty accurate” compared to 30 or 40 years ago.

Bert Aitken started working in the industry as an unqualified deckhand. Photo / Supplied

Aitken said he did not believe in any fishing superstitions.

“A lot of fishermen don’t like the banana thing - the superstition if you have bananas on the boat you’re not going to catch fish. But that’s crazy.

“I’ve sailed on Friday the 13th and had the best fishing ever.”

Now he has retired, Aitken has a few projects he would like to do, including to “try and get my handicap down in golf”.

He also planned to spend more time with his wife, “because she’s been doing the hard yards too with the two weeks on, two weeks off”.

“Forty-three years at sea is quite a long time, so hopefully while I’m still semi-young and fit, I’ll be able to do all the things.

“It’s been a great life - all the crew that I’ve worked with over the years, I usually call them my flatmates, it’s been great.”

Bert Aitken is looking forward to playing golf and spending more time with his family. Photo / Alex Cairns

Dene Aitken said over the time they had been together, her husband had been away for as long as two months, working in Australia.

“It’s just a way of life and you communicate. In the early days, they didn’t have cellphones quite so much and we’d email each other. But in later years, we talk every day on the phone, several times a day.

“You live two lives really ... you’ve got your own life and then you’ve got your life when they come home. You’ve got to be an independent sort of person to handle it and like your own space.”

She was looking forward to “being around each other all the time”.

“It’ll be a more relaxed lifestyle.”

Sanford general manager of fishing Colin Williams had known Aitken for many years.

“Bert is such a good guy, a real gentleman and has great values. He might be an older bloke (sorry Bert) but he’s really innovative and we’ve always been able to go to Bert to try out new fishing technology.

“Forty-three years at sea is amazing and he’s fished safely and looked after his crew so well that whole time.”

Williams said Aitken would be missed but he had done a “great job” training up his crew.

“So I think the Tengawai [the vessel] will be in safe hands.

“We know Bert is an ‘active relaxer’ so I’m pretty sure his retirement will be busy, but we wish him all the best for it. Thanks for everything, Bert.”