Blown out of the water

Monday’s giant earthquake has also delivered a “massive blow” to the multimillion- dollar crayfish industry.

Ward-based Burkhart Fisheries exports millions of dollars worth of the rock lobster to the lucrative Chinese market every year.

The company usually trucks its live crayfish to Christchurch International Airport where they are flown alive across the world.

But the indefinite closure of State Highway 1 means they have had to look at alternative routes, to try and get the crays out of the country in a good state.

“We can overcome that,” says coowner Dennis Burkhart.

“We can still get them to Christchurch, it will just take longer.”

He called on the New Zealand Government to step in, as a shareholder of Air New Zealand, to potentially re-route a freighter into Blenheim once a night to help keep local industry going.

However, that’s the least of his worries now.

The violent quake has lifted the Kaikoura coastline seabed out of the water by about 2m.

It means the launching spots for fishing vessels — off rocky beaches — have been “hugely compromised”.

“That’s going to be a massive problem. Where we are at the moment, we won’t be able to launch without some help through maybe consents to blow channels, or get the army in to blow a few channels to make it a bit safer to get in and out.”

There’s also uncertainty around how the crayfish stocks have been affected by the natural disaster.

“This is a huge blow,” Burkhart admits.

“But you have got to basically accept that, and fishermen are trained to deal with adverse circumstance. But it will sit us on our arse for sure, but we’re not knocked out, we can get back on our feet.”