Fishers happy to avoid lockdown

The coronavirus threat in New Zealand is ‘‘like a bad horror film’’, fishers say, and they are heading to sea to get away from it.

Sanford Fisheries has been deemed an essential service during New Zealand’s lockdown, and the fishers cannot wait to get out to sea. On Tuesday, Taylah Pilcher, a general hand on a fishing trawler, was waiting to board the Interislander to get to Timaru before all domestic travel is banned. ‘‘I never thought I would be so happy to see work again.’’ Driving from the Far North to Timaru, where she will sail from, had been daunting, she said. ‘‘I am on the luckier side, and I get to leave land and be away from this, and do my own self-isolation.’’ Pilcher said with the country going into lockdown, she was keen to leave. ‘‘It is like a bad horror film.’’

She felt fortunate to be considered an essential worker.

All those heading out to sea will be tested for the coronavirus before sailing. Pilcher said she must self-isolate until she goes.

Six weeks was a normal time to be out fishing, she said.

If she returned to find the country still in lockdown, Pilcher said she could stay on her boat for a break or go back out to sea.

‘‘Once we are on the boats, we are out there until the end of the lockdown. If the lockdown is still in place, we will go back out.’’

Pilcher was one of hundreds of people queuing to get on the Interislander Ferry to the South Island from Wellington on Tuesday morning. That evening, the Government extended its deadline for domestic travel, as people struggled with limited flights and ferry services.

Pilcher said she would keep an eye on what was happening at home. ‘‘We have internet in the boat and if we are in reception, we will still get the news.’’