© Akaroa King Salmon
Hawthorn has worked in senior leadership roles in Scotland, Canada and New Zealand. He has extensive salmon farming experience and brings a commitment to farming in a sustainable way, working with local stakeholders and creating value for customers.
“I am excited to be joining the Akaroa team and to continuing my salmon farming journey with an innovative, independent producer of the finest quality salmon,” he said in a press release.
Duncan Bates, founding partner and current CEO, who will remain as one of the partners on the board, added: “After 40 years building Akaroa King Salmon it was important to me to find the right person to lead Akaroa in the years ahead. Stewart, who I have known for more than two decades, was my preferred choice as he brings more than 35 years of farming and salmon business experience to the role.”
Akaroa King Salmon includes Ngāti Porou Seafoods, Te Kahui o Ōnuku- the mana moana (or guardians) of Akaroa Harbour and the founding Bates Family. This partnership has a whakawhanaungatanga (relationship) based around intergenerational sustainability, aiming to provide local employment and healthy seafood for today and future generations.
They have been farming salmon in Akaroa Harbour since 1985. As a 100 percent New Zealand-owned partnership with Māori iwi, they have a commitment to intergenerational sustainability
