New Zealand King Salmon confirmed the North Canterbury-centered earthquakes that occurred in the early hours of Monday 14 November resulted in some minor damage and loss of fish at its backup hatchery but that the harvest operations that were cancelled due to tsunami alerts were expected to quickly resume after the warnings were scaled back.
The company’s Queen Charlotte Sound and Tory Channel farms had been evacuated following the tsunami warnings, but team members have since returned to the hatcheries and to check sea farm sites.
There was no damage noted to processing and storage facilities in Nelson or to the company’s two main hatcheries in Tentburn and Takaka, while water flows affected by the earthquake are not expected to cause a significant issue, said a statement.
Road closures in the South Island, and ferry disruptions were expected to cause some challenges in shipping product to market over the coming days, with minor impact on sales. But the airports are open and so New Zealand King Salmon is now moving as much salmon by air as possible.
“At this point we don’t anticipate any material short- or long-term impact on our business,” said the statement.
According to local reports, the country’s South Island has experienced hundreds of tremors, including a 6.3-magnitude earthquake, since the initial 7.8-magnitude quake on Monday.
