About the Port Underwood farm
The salmon farm was relocated to Kaikoura Bay in Port Underwood, which is at the head of Cloudy Bay. The southerly rips right through port Underwood, keeping the water cooler- and moving. It is a natural deep water port, meaning even large boats could come close into shore. The main industries in Port Underwood were mussel farming and a fishing port. All the boats came and went from the wharf in Oyster Bay.
The salmon farmers were based at the foot of the Port Underwood Hill road in Hakahaka Bay. There was road access to Kaikoura Bay, but this was not practical so instead we traveled across Port Underwood to the farm and back by boat.
Unlike Crail Bay with 2 rows of cages, Kaikoura Bay had just the one. The cages from Crail Bay were broken down to be transported to Port Underwood. When they were assembled again, some of them were lengthened. Instead of being hexagon in shape, they were longer and were referred to as "jelly bean" cages. The nets had to be resown to fit. The intention was to eventually convert all the cages to this set up so the salmon had a bit more room.
The tasks on this farm didn't differ greatly from Crail Bay but we carried them out differently. In Crail Bay, we were fortunate to have a wharf and a fresh water supply close by. The nets were tied to the wharf and the water blaster ran on fresh water. It was better for the water blaster and not so good for whatever was growing on the salmon nets- various types of seaweed, mussels, barnacles etc. In Port Underwood, the water blaster was set up on a floating barge close to the salmon farm. There was no fresh water supply close enough to use and the water blaster had to run with sea water. This was a bit of a nightmare with it breaking down often.
In Crail Bay, we traveled back and fort in the aluminium dinghies we used to move the cages. At night, they were tied into their miniature dinghy-sized marina. It was far too dangerous to cross Port Underwood in such a small boat, on any but a very calm day. The dinghies had to be pulled up onto the last platform of the salmon farm and tied on for the night. The bow was curved, so we would place the bow against the edge of the platform and rev the motor, driving the dinghy onto the platform. As it came up and out of the water, a staff member would grab it from each side and haul it up. It worked well *most* of the time...
We didn't have a boat capable of transporting the food across to the salmon farm. To start with, it was brought across for us on a mussel barge, but transporting it in a well meant the food often got wet. Later we stored it near where we lived, and loaded the boat with whatever food we needed for the day.
The salmon were fed pellets. Nutritionally balanced for everything a growing salmon needs, plus added carophyll to ensure they were the right colour. Carophyll is a derivative of carotine. The pellets were scattered over the water in the cage and the fish would thrash about the surface in a feeding frenzy. Not the most efficient method however, as the circling frenzy of fish would push the pellets outside of the net. The local mullet and kahawai populations had no complaints.
I started working in Crail Bay not long after the last shipment of smolt arrived so I never saw how that was done there. I did help with it in Port Underwood. The smolt were transported on the back of a truck in huge oxygenated tanks. We moved an empty salmon cage next to the wharf and the smolt were gravity fed through a chute and into the cage. One cage for each tank of smolt. The cages were then pushed across Port Underwood to the salmon farm using our aluminium dinghies. On a day with strong tides, this trip took a good four hours. The throttle was on the handle of the outboard motor of the dingy which meant you spent the whole time by the motor, holding the throttle open. Sometimes we sat to the right of the engine, sometimes we sat to the left and other times we sat on it. A long and tedious journey, often made more challenging towards the middle of Port Underwood with waves that would rock the boat and cage in different directions, meaning the boat would often come loose and have to be secured again.
The dinghies only had about 18 inches of freeboard, so catching a wave broadside would swamp them and require bailing, but fortunately being tied to the salmon cage provided some stability
Dinghy on end
platform
Looking from
Kaikoura Bay
towards
Hakahaka Bay
The beginnings of the
salmon farm
Our trailer
house
Our property at
the base of the
hill
The staff and accommodation
The Port Underwood salmon farm employed 6 staff who worked the same hours every day. Monday to Friday, 8.30am til 4.30pm from memory. On the weekends, there was a roster of 2 people for each day. All the weekend staff did was feed the fish and come back.
When I started in Port Underwood, the accommodation was a 2 bedroom bach plus a caravan.
Only 2 of the Crail Bay staff migrated to Port Underwood. The first left Crail Bay at the beginning and helped set up the Port Underwood farm. I came along about 6 months later and was the only female employee in the whole of Port Underwood. I got to live in the caravan. The rest of the workers as well as the manager traveled from Blenheim each day
Later on, a 3 bedroom trailer home unit was brought in. 3 of the staff moved into that and 2 stayed in the original bach
The close proximity to Picton meant the social life was more lively than it had been in Crail Bay. We would travel to the Oxleys hotel 2 or more times a week and order a pie and a pint each. Except for me. I ordered a half pint. We became known as the "pie and pint" crew before too long.
The Port Underwood hill road was a steep, narrow winding road which was only sealed on one side. Thinking back, I can't believe we drove over it in the inebriated states we got ourselves into and at the speeds we did. There were a couple of minor accidents that occured while we were sober.
We would have a rule that whoever was the most ill the next day could stay on the boat or in the smoko shed while the others did the work, knowing that we wouldn't get away with it too often. I only ever wrote myself off to that point once. Feeling more than a little green around the gills and bouncing up and down on the salmon farm all day was not a pleasant memory.
Port Underwood Jack
During my time in Port Underwood, the salmon farmers were befriended by a wild dolphin. A young male botlenosed dolphin who eventually was named Port Underwood Jack.
To start with, we would see him following the boat from time to time. Then his visits became more frequent. This was a very unique dolphin encounter. In most circumstances, it is people who seek out the company of a lone dolphin but in this situation it was the dolphin who sought us out. He knew we were on the salmon farm every day,and he knew we would travel across Port Underwood and back at least twice a day.
Jack didn't bow ride like many dolphins do. Instead he would follow a foot or less away from the propellor. He seemed to sense a change in speed and/or direction avoiding any major injuries.
He would often come over while I was waterblasting. I would put the gun under the water and he would swim back and forth in the jet of water. He also like to play with oars making rowing impossible. It can be hard enough to row a boat without a dolphin pushing the oars around
Jack came to see the salmon farm as something of a dolphin entertainment centre. You could push the tube that housed the thermometer back up through the platform... tangle the corner weights on the nets around the farms anchor lines, blast sonic sounds at the nets full of salmon and freak them out as well as annoy whoever was waterblasting. We could touch him while we were out of the water, but we never got to a stage where we could play with him in the water. He would play with a ball and other toys we gave him, and would play a game where someone would lay down on a platform and push his beak. You would push harder and he would push harder until someone had to give up. Never him.
Wade Doak heard about our local dolphin and came to film him. Jack had disappeared a few weeks earlier and hasn't been seen since. There are many theories about what might have happened, but no one actually knows for sure
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| Jack |
Jack again |
Some Port Underwood memories
Because the salmon farm was located so far away from our accomodation, we couldn't travel back and forth when we needed to go to the toilet. There was no toilet on the salmon farm at all. The boys were able to pee off the farm and the whole toileting issue was never considered until I came along. Some times we were dropped off on the farm and left with no boat. The boys were always offerring me drinks. One told me later it was because they wanted to see what I would do when I needed to go. I just didn't. Disappointing as that was for them, I managed to hold on until we got back home. The bouncy ride back across the Port with a full bladder was fairly uncomfortable, but worth it!
Many fishing boats would come into Port Underwood to load ice and unload fish. Also, trucks would come over the hill to collect mussels off the barges. There were at least 3 mussel companies operating out of Port Underwood while I was there. All their employees were male. I recall loading food onto the boat one day. I was dressed in a Swandri and gumboots. I heard one of the fisherman say to his mate "I'm sure that one is a chick..."
The other more notable memories were the boats we had. The first was a Hamilton Jet hull converted to an outboard motor. It was a good, reliable sea-worthy boat. Unfortunately not fire proof. On one fateful day it was tied up to the wharf in Oyster Bay. The guy welding on a nearby Mussel barge failed to notice he was showering the plastic petrol tanks with sparks.
Due to the lack of funds after being asset stripped, the next boat was cheap and nasty. If it was in reverse, the scuppers would let in too much water, especially if there was a load on. We had to remove all our gear every day in order to keep the scuppers above the waterline while the boat was on the mooring.
The 3rd boat had spent a fair amount of its life on dry land under a tree. The first few weeks were spent fibreglassing the leaks we had discovered. This one turned out to be too light in the water and turned over on its mooring one day
Enter boat number 3- the Valkyrie. A fishing boat turned into a launch. Very impractical... towered over the salmon farm platforms making getting on and off, loading food etc difficult and dangerous.
What happened to the Port Underwood farm?
Not long after moving all their assets to Port Underwood - the Baigent crowd sold out to Como Holdings. During this change over, Como holdings pretty much asset stripped the company and when they were done, flicked it off to South Pacific Salmon. SPS were serious about running the salmon farm as a going concern but it had reached the point where too much money was required. It was likely to be a very risky investment and a risk SPS were not prepared to take. With that, and increasing competition from both Regal Salmon and NZ Salmon, SPS sold the salmon farm on to Fleetwing Enterprises. Fleetwing Enterprises were one of the companies who had farmed mussels in Port Underwood for some time. They reverted the salmon farm back to a mussel licence once all the salmon were harvested and that was the end of an era.
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| Our first boat |
Valkyrie |
Harvested Salmon |
packed in ice |
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| Tanks of smolt on truck |
Lowering the chute |
Gravity Feeding smolt into cage below |
Oyster Bay Port Underwood |