Fishing and aquaculture firm Sanford is to sell its Pacific oyster farms in Northland to Maori-owned Aotearoa Fisheries, suffering a NZD 2 million impairment on exit.
A virus that had ravaged juvenile oysters and forced the closure of Sanford’s Kaeo processing plant last December is behind the decision to quit oyster farming and focus on its greenshell mussel business instead.
The 16 Northland farms, covering a total of 128ha in the Bay of Islands and the Whangaroa and Houhora harbours, represented only about 1 percent of Sanford’s total annual revenue, managing director Eric Barratt said in a statement to the NZD near the close of trading for the week.
Sanford shares closed unchanged at NZD 3.98, and down almost 25 percent over the last year.
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