Masterton luxury for crayfish | Wairarapa News | Local News in Wairarapa

Crayfish caught in Wairarapa will soon have a new luxury stop-off option before their big OE to China.

Fiordland Lobster Company has built holding tanks at a depot in Masterton, as a way of keeping live crayfish in top condition before their export from Wellington.

The depot is one of the businesses to operate from an industrial area under development at Waingawa.

The company's specialty is the live export of lobster, said North Island manager Allan Cosgrove, who uses the export industry term for one of New Zealand's best-loved seafoods.

Mr Cosgrove said the Masterton depot, the company's newest, is "an indication of our support for the Wairarapa fishermen".

"We have a strong client fisherman base operating from Ngawi to Akitio and every beach along the way," he said.

"That's the thing that makes Masterton [and Waingawa] so important to us; it's so conveniently placed to service every beach."

The lobster export business is highly competitive at the moment and the new facility will ensure "the product is looked after and maintained in the best possible condition prior to export", Mr Cosgrove says.

About 90 per cent of New Zealand's live lobster exports go to China, the world's largest market for live export seafood.

The tanks will not normally hold the creatures for more than 24 hours and have been designed to minimise lifting and stress on the lobster.

Keeping lobster in good condition is a highly scientific business, Mr Cosgrove says.

The company has invested heavily in technology and employed staff with relevant qualifications and academic backgrounds including marine biology.

Filter systems, which include live micro-organisms, are an area that Fiordland Lobster Company works "very, very hard on" Mr Cosgrove says - "and we are reasonably ahead of others in the field".

The facility will employ one full-time manager, Richard Hendry, who has just moved down from Napier to Masterton, and one part-time worker.

Fiordland already has three drivers working in the region.

Mr Cosgrove said he was impressed with the support and timely responses of Carterton District Council, and with the professionalism of building company Affordable Sheds.

"The company is very pleased to be operating in the Masterton area, we view it as a very good fit."