New Zealand exports tuna caught off our coasts to American Samoa. The fish is processed and canned there for the North American markets. Albacore tuna is the main tuna specie caught off the New Zealand coast, found in waters of approximately 16°C. The season is from around December to March/April in our northern waters and from about mid January to mid March in the south. The fish are caught principally off the west coast, with the catch being landed from the port of Onehunga down to South Island west coast ports on the South Island. On the east coast in New Zealand they are caught in fewer but still substantial numbers and are landed principally in Tauranga, Auckland and Napier.

The majority of the boats fishing for tuna on these coasts are in the 13-20m range. They troll for the fish and many are owned by the skippers. They are usually not fitted with refrigeration and rely upon shore-supplied ice. The duration of the voyage of these fishing boats depends on the weather, the catch rate and the life and availability of the ice required to hold the fish temperature in their holds.

There is also a number of larger company-owned vessels which are fitted with refrigeration, either to provide cold brine or blast freezing. When cold brine is used the fish temperature after cooling is about -25°c, and after blast freezing can often be as low as -40°c.

When the tuna are caught, being fast swimming and hard fighting fish, their muscles are very heated when they are landed on the vessels. If the fish is not properly cooled, chilled or iced, the muscles in the middle of the fish do not get properly cooled. This can result in the outer skin and flesh being frozen, but not the middle flesh and this part can deteriorate.

When the fish are landed in NZ, they are transferred into containers. Because of the nature of the product, which has to be kept at a very cold temperature, the containers struggle to maintain a low ambient temperature. Containers in any case are designed to maintain temperature, and not as blast freezers.

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