Caroline Anderson, Inshore Fisher and Retailer
Name: Caroline Anderson
Years in industry: 3
Occupation: Owner/Operator, Inshore Fisher, Retailer
Vessel: Wairoa
Location: Picton
Step onto Caroline Anderson’s 60-year-old fishing boat, and you’ll likely get an earful. The young fisherwoman has a welcoming smile, but her parrot Starboard is a squawky bloke.
Come Saturday morning, Starboard is tucked away in the wheelhouse, as Caroline and her crew-hand rope 43-foot Wairoa up against Picton’s commercial jetty and hang a sign promising “very fresh fish – straight off the boat”.
Regulars include Picton locals, eager to get the freshest fish they can lay their hands on without casting a line, and restaurant chefs.
New girl on the block
Caroline’s first experience with wharf sales came early winter 2008, when her partner convinced her to give up her job as a Ministry of Fisheries observer to help him sell kina from the wharf in Wellington. The couple soon realised wet fish were in higher demand and started fishing cod, groper and butterfish instead.
When bad weather forced them to tie up in Picton they discovered the market in their home port.
Going solo
While her partner Troy concentrates on kina, Caroline runs the Wairoa, a kauri fishing boat converted to a live-aboard vessel that serves as both. Each Wednesday, weather permitting, Caroline, Starboard and crew set off for three days fishing, setting as many nets and drop lines as they can, catching shark, groper and blue cod, before returning to port late Friday.
Two tonne challenge
Caroline leases her quota predominantly from Nelson quota broker Donna Wells, but has also bought two tonne of pilchards with an eye to a future market.
Her Little Fish Company is named both for the diminutive size of her operation, and for her goal of attracting New Zealand palates to small fish such as pilchards and herring.
Testimonial
Michael Seresin of Seresin Estate Winery and the Waterfall Bay Restaurant is enthusiastic about Caroline’s operation, calling it “the antithesis of the supermarket culture of food”.
The head chef at Picton’s Yacht Club Hotel, Philipp Knoedler, only has to walk two minutes from his kitchen to the Wairoa. He’ll call to find out what Caroline has that morning, devise a fish of the day dish, then wander down to buy his fish.
Training to be a Skipper
Mike made the move from forestry work to mussels 15 years ago. After a short time in the processing factory at Havelock, Mike hit the water and has never looked back. Initially a crew member on the mussel barges but with the support of his company Sanford Ltd, Mike made the decision to take his skippers ticket in 2004. The ticket took five weeks to complete and three years ago he was promoted to skipper of the Pelorus Trader.