Fishing slump hits Nelson port

1.00pm

Businesses at Port Nelson are suffering from a downturn in the fishing industry, with some saying they have never seen a slump like it before.

Foreign exchange pressures, low catch rates, high fuel costs and poor commodity prices have contributed to the situation.

One local business owner, who declined to be named, said he was closing his boat engine repair business after more than 20 years.

He said the fishing industry's troubles were too large to overcome.

"You try to say to yourself 'It's just a bit of a downturn' and try to ride it, but ultimately you have no choice."

He said business started drying up at the end of last year.

Jobs from fishing boats had come to a "grinding halt" for most companies in the area, and he knew of many others that were struggling.

"The bigger the company, the longer they can hold on."

His engine repair business did not employ any staff.

Calwell Slipway manager Charlie Edgarton said the number of boats being pulled in and out of the water this year had dropped significantly.

"What I'm hearing is that it's never been this quiet before."

He said the high New Zealand dollar meant that everyone in the industry had had to tighten their belts.

ANZ Bank economist John Bolsover said that despite a 3 per cent rise in world seafood prices in July, the New Zealand fishing industry was under pressure due to the strong dollar.

"The demand for seafood is still strong but you translate those euros and US dollars into the New Zealand dollar and you're getting less."

He said seafood exports fell more than 20 per cent in 2003 to $1.17 billion, from $1.48 billion in 2002.

"This equates to a loss of over $350 million to New Zealand exporters, which in turn is putting the industry under financial pressure."

Challenge Marine general manager Steve Sullivan said his engineering and ship repair business had been forced to diversify. There was a lot less work available in the marine sector, but his company had managed to find other markets.

"Our name is marine and that's what 99 per cent of our work was, but we have had to change that."

The company had reduced its rates for fishing boat clients to show its support for the industry, Mr Sullivan said.

"It's a way to assist them in troubled times. Everything else is going up in price; fuel and things."

However, he was confident that the fishing industry would recover, and said it was important that service businesses at the port were still there when it did.

Nelson engineering cluster representative Dan Slattery said port-related businesses were feeling the effects of reduced spending by fishing companies.

He said businesses should be able to minimise problems through "diversification and smart business operations".

Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union Nelson representative Alan Clarence said he was aware of a "tightening up" of engineering businesses at the port.

He believed companies would "hang in there" before making workers redundant.

"There's such a small pool of tradesmen out there that they'll try to retain their workers for when things turn up again."

- NZPA