Taniwha Oysters tries new tech after $200k Gabrielle loss

A Northland oyster farming business is testing the waters with new aquaculture technology after the rough seas of Cyclone Gabrielle knocked its oysters off their sticks, costing the company about $200,000.

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Taniwha Oysters, co-owned by husband-and-wife duo Pene and Lanice Waitai and Lanice’s brother Xavier Dromgool, has been in business since 2015.

It farms Pacific oysters at several sites across Northland for both domestic and export markets, in a good year producing more than 3.6 million oysters.

Prior to Cyclone Gabrielle, Taniwha Oysters only used the traditional oyster farming method: Wooden frames and sticks built into tidal areas, with the oysters submerged at high tide and exposed at low tide.

That system is susceptible to rough weather, however, and the oysters can be knocked off the sticks by wave action – a weakness exposed by Gabrielle’s fury.

“In this game, you’re always dealing with Mother Nature,” Pene said.

“You get a rough storm, and the oysters just get beaten off the stick, and they fall on the ground.

“We really only got the tail of it, but it was still quite nasty – high winds, big swells.”

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Above: One of Taniwha Oysters' Bay of Islands farms, on a calm day.

Gabrielle dealt a severe blow to the operation, with an estimated $200,000 worth of oysters lost, and wooden farm structures damaged across several sites.

It was “a big whack” financially, Pene said, but also a stark reminder of ongoing climate change which is likely to make severe weather more common.

“We can’t go through that again, really, so we’re just trying to evolve and do something different, and just be as ready as we can,” Xavier said.

Taniwha Oysters decided to try a new oyster farming system developed by Marlborough-based FlipFarm Systems.

The FlipFarm system has been growing in popularity in the aquaculture world, in New Zealand and overseas, with oyster farmers as far away as Maine, USA having adopted the system since it was released to market around 2020.

The ingenious system uses individual oyster cages chained together along a rope with buoyancy tanks keeping them floating just below the water.

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Above: An opened FlipFarm Systems oyster cage.

The cages can be flipped, harvested or re-filled using specially-designed equipment which is towed alongside an oyster barge, dramatically reducing the labour required and allowing farmers to work on their stock during almost any tidal phase.

“Labour-wise, a job that four-to-six guys would normally do – three guys can do it comfortably,” Pene said.

The FlipFarm system also provides excellent protection from severe weather, as the oysters are fully secured and can’t be knocked to the ground.

About 10 per cent of Taniwha Oysters’ operation has now been converted to the FlipFarm system, Pene and Xavier said, and they are considering adding more in future.

“It has got a bright future – hopefully we can operate our farms with 50 per cent FlipFarming and 50 per cent original, which would give us a bit of versatility,” Xavier said.

“We certainly wouldn’t be stressing so much when a storm comes through,” Pene added.

Pene and Xavier are also finding that the oysters in the FlipFarm cages grow much faster because they are kept just below the water surface at all times, giving them access to more food.

They are hoping this will allow them to start harvesting during the off season – creating more consistent cashflow for the business, and the chance to keep workers employed during what would otherwise be a quiet period.

The FlipFarm system has the potential to make the oyster industry more resilient and better able to manage extreme weather events.

It’s this aspect that allowed Taniwha Oysters to fund the equipment with a low-interest Business Regrowth Loan from ANZ.

“It can be daunting, borrowing money – but it’s something we thought we needed to try,” Pene said.

“They were happy with what we were going to do, and it seems to be looking good and everything’s working out the way it’s supposed to.”

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Above: ANZ New Zealand CEO Antonia Watson tries a few oysters with Pene Waitai.

ANZ Chief Executive Antonia Watson said the bank has loaned more than $52 million to customers impacted by extreme weather through Business Regrowth Loans since Cyclone Gabrielle.

"The kind of weather we saw during Gabrielle will continue to have a huge impact on our farmers and growers, so it’s great to have seen so many of them come to us for help to finance the changes they need to future-proof their business."
~ Antonia Watson, ANZ New Zealand CEO

“Through discounted lending we’ve been able to help remove some of the cost barrier – to make it a little bit easier to rebuild and invest.”

A further $68 million has also been loaned by ANZ through Business Green Loans, alongside $380 million under the government-backed North Island Weather Event Loans.

“That’s close to half a billion dollars of investment in our country’s future, and a serious commitment to the long-term sustainability of our productive sectors,” Watson said.

As of 2024, the Aquaculture industry generated about $760 million in annual revenue, with hopes to grow the industry to $3 billion in annual sales by 2035.

In New Zealand, the oyster season typically runs from April until November.