Aquaculture

Our Marine Farms

Sanford’s 223 aquaculture farms across New Zealand all make positive contributions to their local communities. We are a major employer in Stewart Island and Havelock (Marlborough) and have the potential to invest in more small communities in a similar way. We farm to internationally recognised best practice, and our staff work hard to protect and maintain the marine environments that we operate in.

Salmon

The salmon farmed in New Zealand is King (or Chinook) Salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), which is different species to the more common Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar).  New Zealand’s King Salmon has been named as the world’s most environmentally sustainable farmed salmon by Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch® programme, an influential and respected global authority on sustainable seafood. We have two hatcheries for rearing juvenile salmon in freshwater and several farms (including a brood farm for our breeding programme) all located in Big Glory Bay (BGB) in Rakiura/Stewart Island. Salmon are cold water species and warming oceans are a risk to their long-term viability. Thermo-tolerance is a genetic quality we seek to breed in our stock. Our salmon processing factory is located in Bluff and the daily harvest is transported from the farm at BGB by boat.

Mussels

Greenshell Mussels (kutai) are unique to New Zealand waters and one of our most iconic seafoods. Traditionally, industry has relied on wild-caught spat (baby mussels), which has led to inconsistency in supply and variable mussel performance during farming. We have mussel farms located across the country. Our mussel processing factory is located on the Havelock wharf in the Marlborough Sounds.

Carbon

We do not farm marine plants but are looking into how farming kelp may assist us inset our emissions from other parts of our business.