Fish farm folds with nearly $8m debts

NEW ZEALAND - A rescue mission has been launched to stop 20 tonnes of live kingfish becoming crayfish bait after a Far North fish farm folded with debts amounting to millions of dollars.

The Parengarenga Fish Farm was set up by the Paerengarenga Incorporation Society two years and had been described as a prime example of Maori economic development in the north.

However, the farm, just south of North Cape, failed to meet production expectations and folded with debts of $7.6m.

Incorporation chairman Winiata Brown was reported to have told shareholders the venture did not attract enough investors.

He said consultants failed to find investors and withdrew from the project.

The Bank of New Zealand was understood to have advanced $7m to get the farm started but that debt had now been transferred to the incorporation believed to have assets of $30m.

Source: Stuff.co