Kaimoana

Seafood

$2.1 billion

annual export earnings (updated Dec annually)

11,908

average workforce

60%

of core production workers are managed

78%

of core processing workers are managed

What is the seafood sector?

The seafood sector includes deep sea and inshore fisheries, aquaculture, seafood processing and wholesaling, and ship and boat building and repair.

This information expands on and interprets our data visualisation for all sectors, which can be filtered by sector and parts of it, like processing or production.

How many work in seafood?

Data for year ending 31 March 2022.
Data for year ending 31 March 2022.
Designation Count
Core production 6,017
Core processing/manufacturing 4,450
Strongly connected 1,022
Relevant 541
Total 11,908

Designation workforce counts won't necessarily sum to the total - some people may work in more than one designation. The total indicates the overall unique average number of people who work in the sector. 

Seasonal change: Workforce over a year

Our data visualisations show average workforce counts across a year for the seafood sector.

Roles and skill levels

MPI and NZIER's report 'The food and fibre workforce: Data on its size and composition' from June 2022 sets out the proportion of managers, semi-autonomous and managed staff in the seafood sector.

Businesses included in the seafood sector

Core production

A020100
Longline and rack (offshore) aquaculture
A020200
Caged (offshore) aquaculture
A020300
Onshore aquaculture
A041100
Rock lobster and crab potting
A041200
Prawn fishing
A041300
Line fishing
A041400
Fish trawling, seining and netting
A041900
Other fishing

Core processing/manufacturing

C112000
Seafood processing

Strongly connected

F360400
Fish and seafood wholesaling

Relevant

C239100
Shipbuilding and repair services
C239200
Boatbuilding and repair services