PRECISION SEAFOOD HARVESTING WINS AT 2014 KIWINET AWARDS.

12 June 2014

Precision Seafood Harvesting or PSH – a new, sustainable fishing technology tipped to revolutionise the global industry – won two major categories at the KiwiNet Research Commercialisation Awards last night along with being named runner up for the night’s Supreme Award.

Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy has welcomed the “fitting recognition” of the six-year Primary Growth Partnership (PGP) programme. Precision Seafood Harvesting is the commercialisation phase of nearly ten years of New Zealand research. Fishing companies Aotearoa Fisheries, Sanford and Sealord are investing $26 million into the project under a Primary Growth Partnership with the Ministry for Primary Industries, which is matching the industry investment. Scientists at Plant & Food Research are partnering with the fishing companies to develop and trial the technology on commercial fishing vessels.

“The programme is in its third year of commercialising fishing technology that will allow fish to be landed alive, and in perfect condition, while safely releasing small fish and by-catch,” says Guy. “The potential economic and environmental benefits are huge, and it’s no surprise it’s attracting so much attention. This is a $52 million project with funding from both industry and government.”

PSH netted the Researcher Entrepreneur Award for Alistair Jerrett at Plant & Food Research, recognising smart entrepreneurship and the vision and ability to bring clever science to market. The programme also took out The People’s Choice Award recognising the Plant & Food scientists voted by their peers following yesterday’s Awards Day presentations for research commercialisation excellence that is well presented and inspires others. PSH was also named runner up for the Kiwinet Supreme Award.

Alistair Jerrett said he was humbled by the award and thanked the fishing company partners in the project for their foresight to “collaborate on and invest in creating a sustainable future for fishing, which has the ability to change the way the world fishes. “

Sealord CEO Graham Stuart, said that PSH was a “once in a lifetime opportunity for science, Government and the companies involved. The positive impacts of the technology for sustainability and quality are transformative and expected to boost export returns by $100m by 2020 through use of the PSH technology.”

PSH is a best-practice example of the innovation that the partnership between government, Crown Institutes and businesses enables.

”It shows that smart ideas and smart action deliver smart results,” says Guy.

KiwiNet, or the Kiwi Innovation Network, is a consortium of 13 Universities, Crown Research Institutes and a Crown Entity established to boost commercial outcomes from publicly funded research. -ends-

For all media enquiries on Precision Seafood Harvesting, please contact Trish Sherson at Sherson Willis on 021 570 803 or e-mail trish@shersonwillis.com