Farming of whitebait ensures that we can not only control the quality of the product, consistently deliver a fresh product and harvest at the point of premium quality, but we can continue to consume whitebait that are sustainably produced.

Because we have the ability to breed all of the five species, we can also support the restoration of these fish into restored habitats.

Four of the five whitebait species in New Zealand are considered by the Department of Conservation as “threatened” and numbers have been declining rapidly over recent years due mainly from loss of habitat, introduced species predation, water quality degradation and water temperature increases.

Sadly, the largest of the species, the giant kōkopu, which can grow up to 45 cm in length and live for more than 20 years, is now named ‘’Vulnerable and decreasing’’ on the International IUCN’s (International Union for Conservation of Nature) red list.

All of our whitebait is produced by using our own produced broodstock which now exceeds generation Filia4.  Because our growing process is all natural (no chemicals, no antibiotics) the only by-product from our process is filtered sea water.

Also, our fish feeds are sourced from sustainable fisheries and even better our whitebait have a feed conversion ratio of 1Kg of fish feed producing 1Kg of consumable whitebait.