The scale of fish waste sent to landfill could feed a community
Thursday, 29 April 2021
Every week, thousands of litres of edible fish parts are emptied into landfill, and one organisation says initiatives should be put in place to stop the waste.
At the Nelson Port boat ramp, recreational fishers fillet their fish before dumping the waste in a skip which is emptied about once a week, sometimes twice during summer.
The waste includes guts and gills, but it also includes fish heads, frames and skin which LegaSea fisheries management and alignment specialist Scott Macindoe said was perfectly good kai.
“It’s just called maximising the utilisation of every animal we kill.”
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Macindoe compared the fish being chucked out to what would be left after eating the wings, legs and breasts of a chicken.
“The amount of wastage is absurd.”
Macindoe is involved in an Auckland initiative, Te Kai Ika Project which utilises fish heads, frames and offal. Organisations including the Outboard Boating Club of Auckland, Papatūānuku Kōkiri Marae, Westhaven Marina, LegaSea and the NZ Sport Fishing Council work together to redistribute what is left of a filleted fish out to families and community groups in South Auckland.
He said for the initiative to work in Nelson, it would need to have buy-in from a number of groups and demand for the fish. It would also require about $10,000 initially to set up workers, vans, bins, phones and refrigeration to ensure there was no contamination.
“You’re a bloody legend Nelson if you can get your act together and do that.”
He said making use of the fish instead of sending it to landfill was about respect. Respect for the environment and making use of the fish, respect for the community, “sharing is caring” and self-respect, “knowing we made the effort to go the extra distance, and we’ve done the right thing”.
“All this effort is driven by a sense of rangatiratanga, an aspiration to lead by example based on inherited knowledge.”
Te Pātaka Inc is an organisation which grew out of a Te Tauihu eight-iwi wide response to the Covid-19 lockdown. It supports Māori in the top of the south with kai packages and firewood. Whakatū Marae in Nelson and Te Āwhina Marae in Motueka are distribution centres with the project.
Te Āwhina Marae resident Nga Whakaara of Te Āti Awa said the marae would often receive fish heads and frames from recreational fishers who didn’t want to waste the food. She said they were then distributed to families, the community and seasonal workers who turned the leftovers into fish broth, fish cakes or fish pie.
“It’s waste not, want not – it’s quite simple.”
She said many cultures around the world made use of the entire fish, including much of Europe.
A local Facebook fishing group attracted numerous comments on the wasted fish, with the majority upset at the practice.
Another community food distributor saw the waste as a missed opportunity.
Victory Community Centre co-ordinator Stephen McLuckie said he would be keen to get together with like-minded groups in Nelson to explore the options of diverting the wasted fish from landfill.
“There’s an opportunity there and we need to have some local conversation about it. We’d be happy to be part of that conversation and get local community involved as well.”
“We’d be loath to see good kai being wasted when there’s opportunity for it to feed hungry people.”