Tā Tipene O’Regan has received the Prestigious Life Membership Award by Seafood NZ.
This was one of nine individuals and companies across six categories to be honoured at the 10th annual Seafood Stars Awards in Nelson by Chief Executive Lisa Futschek.
Tā Tipene O’Regan was one of the driving forces behind the development and implementation of the Māori Fisheries Settlement, which led to the historic 1992 Sealord Deal.
The Sealord Deal was a landmark agreement returning commercial fisheries assets to iwi Māori. This paved the way for the creation of Te Ohu Kaimoana in 2004. Te Ohu Kaimoana is the trust established to safeguard and manage assets on behalf of iwi for future generations, for which O’Regan was the founding chairman.
The award recognises Tā Tipene’s leadership in transforming the seafood sector in Aotearoa which lead to meaningful and ongoing iwi participation in the industry.
The other recipients include Guard Safety who was awarded the the ACC Workplace Wellbeing Award for improving safety through initiatives such as MarineSAFE, the NZ Fishing Health and Safety Forum.
Our Future Adaption Award has gone to Massey University Food Technology student Jerome Chua for creating crayfish-waste bait sausages to reduce bycatch and waste.
The Women in Seafood Australasia Championing Inclusion Award went to Caroline Gilbertson and Aine O’Neill for founding Women of Aquaculture, which supports women across the aquaculture space to network, celebrate success and achievements,
Young Achiever Awards went to skipper and industry ambassador Chase Saunders-Loder and Lu Ee Lee for Sealord innovations in wetfish factory.
Tom Searle was given the Telling Our Story Award for championing small-scale fishers and industry storytelling.
And finally, the other Life Membership Award was given to Graeme Sinclair for leadership and advocacy.
