Sanford’s sustainability approach in the Sounds

If you live and work in the Marlborough Sounds, you should want to look after them, says an aquaculture boss.

Sanford is one of the largest fishing and aquaculture companies in the country and has been farming greenshell mussels in the Marlborough Sounds since the 1980s.

General manager of sustainability Lisa Martin says the company oversees 185 mussel farms in the Sounds.

The company entered this year’s Cawthron Marlborough Environment Awards for its raft of environmental approaches, which range from beach clean-ups to monitoring water quality.

‘‘Obviously our mussel production relies on a healthy marine environment. So from our point of view, our drive is to take care of the Sounds,’’ Lisa says.

‘‘It is the crux of what and why we do things. Sustainablility is delivered in everything we do.’’

The protection of water quality is a major focus of the Sanford operation, Lisa says.

Motor oil has been swapped for vegetable-based oil in the hydraulic machinery while hydrocarbon pollutants are being filtered from bilge water when discharged into the sea.

From beach clean-ups to pulling rubbish from the water, a sustainable ethos is not something management can simply put in place, Lisa says.

‘‘We really want to ensure it’s a great environment going forward and we have a role to play in that stewardship,’’ she says.

In the nomination for the Cawthron Marlborough Environment Awards, judges were impressed at the innovation within the company and the support for staff to explore and develop new equipment and ways of working to reduce their impact on the environment.

- Jeffrey Kitt

PHOTO: SUPPLIED Sanford crewmen, from left, Rob MacGibbon and Clint Nott with farm development manager Grant Boyd on board Pacifica having completed a beach clean on the Boulder Bank, Okiwi Bay in the Marlborough Sounds.