To Whom It May Concern,
I am writing to you on behalf of our company Octopus Technologies Pty Ltd.
Some of you will be familiar, with our company, and the products that we provide, as we have had contact in the past.
For those of you that aren’t, this letter is a short introduction, and small glimpse into who we are;
Octopus Technologies is a specialized fishing technology company established in 2004 for the purposes of:
Holding intellectual property associated with the development of a new trigger pot technology, to be utilized in commercial octopus fishing;
Conducting open water trials of the new trigger pot technology;
Commercializing the new trigger pot technology to both existing and potential domestic and international octopus fisheries.
You may be interested to know that after 6 years we have achieved all of our goals, and are now looking to help establish commercial octopus fisheries internationally.
After developing and testing the pot over the last couple of years, finally in March 2010, we were given permission by the WA Department of Fisheries to outsource our fishing activities to professional fisherman, and have taken on 8 professionals, who stretch over 200 km of the Western Australian coast line. Since March these fisherman have proved beyond a doubt that the trap is effective, and that the fishery has a huge potential both in Australia and overseas.
With the success of the fishery here and perhaps word of mouth, the last six months has also seen a lot of interest from fisherman in New Zealand.
From what we have heard there is an abundance of octopus at different locations on both the north and south islands, and there is real potential to help establish a successful fishery.
After correspondence between Octopus Technologies and the New Zealand Department of Fisheries, we have received written approval, that our trigger trap design has been accepted by the Department, and that the trap can be used legally to capture and target octopus in New Zealand.
“The Western Australian 'trigger' pots are considered lawful given that they would not generally catch rock lobsters and that once an octopus is captured, the entrance would be covered and secured by a latch or flap. The devices commonly known as shelter "pots" are still lawful given that the Ministry does not consider those to be pots per se and that they would not generally take rock lobsters either.” (DoF NZ – Mikkelsen, Brendon)
It is now our intention to come to New Zealand, and conduct several workshops regarding the opportunity to fish for octopus with our specialized gear.
The workshops we would like to hold would include;
- A full overview of who we are and how to fish successfully on a commercial level for octopus, showing our products and fishing techniques.
- A look at the success and catch rates of the fisherman in Western Australia
- Outlining financial capital expenditure needed to set yourself up in an octopus fishery
- Potential Income vs Expenditure
- Grouping together and setting up co-op’s in NZ
- Systems for value adding octopus in NZ (eg. Marinating octopus)
- Markets for your octopus
If something of this nature would be of interest to you or your company then we would like to commence a dialogue, and get details so that we can make these workshops a reality.
We think an octopus fishery in New Zealand has great potential, and would be another steady source of income for fisherman, and would like to come to New Zealand in late November to talk to anyone interested.
If you could help us achieve this goal, and spread the word, and talk to other people who may be interested in establishing a new fishery, it would be most helpful and appreciated.
Please don’t hesitate to contact me for any additional information.
Kind Regards
Mark Cammilleri / Manager – Octopus Technologies