Aerial view of a busy seafood processing facility and port in Nelson, New Zealand, with Sealord vessels docked at the wharf and green coastal waters in the foreground.

Deepwater Fishing

We have seven deep-sea vessels operating from New Zealand waters, as well as the Will Watch which fishes the southern Indian Ocean from its base in Mauritius.

Our fishing operations are based in Nelson, where all aspects of our deep-water operations are managed, including harvest, production, export sales and distribution.

Sealord also owns Independent Fisheries Ltd, one of New Zealand’s largest deep-sea fishing companies, which operates from Lyttelton in Christchurch, and runs a deepwater fishing venture in Australia, Petuna Sealord Deepwater Fishing Pty Ltd. Sealord has an interest in toothfish company, Australian Longline (with Nissui), and has interests in Westfleet, the fishing joint venture based on the West Coast of New Zealand’s South Island.

Land-based operations

From our Nelson base, our wet fish factory processes hoki in season from May to September and other key species such as orange roughy, dory and ling throughout the year.

Our coated factory produces crumbed and battered products like battered hoki, fish fingers and crumbed dory fillets all year round, which are sold in New Zealand and Australia, and exported around the world. 

At Sealord, nothing is wasted. We also have a fishmeal plant, which processes discarded fish parts into fish oil and fishmeal for products like animal feed, cosmetics and liquid fertiliser.

A cheerful group of seafood processing workers dressed in white uniforms and safety gear, smiling and waving outside a factory building.
Offshore aquaculture pens floating on calm ocean waters at sunrise, with a silhouette of mountains in the distance and seabirds flying overhead.

Aquaculture

Sealord has significant fish farming operations in Australia.  Sealord owns Petuna Aquaculture, a salmon and ocean trout company based in Tasmania, Australia.

Today Petuna’s core values draw from a heritage of aquaculture, recognising that they should respect the longevity of the natural environment in which they operate.