By Tony Field
The small Northland town of Kaeo has suffered a serious financial blow - with the loss of 66 jobs.
Sanford is closing its oyster processing plant there because a virus has devastated the local beds.
The plant has been a major employer in the town of Kaeo, but now its fallen victim to a virus that is killing the region's juvenile oysters.
“With the oyster virus affecting all of our farms in Northland, we just don't have sufficient oysters able to be harvested in the next few years to enable us to continue operating the processing plant,” says Eric Barratt, Sanford managing director.
The plant employs 15 fulltime staff but on top of that there is another 51 seasonal workers.
That is a serious blow in a town with a population of just 500, and which already has an unemployment rate of 7 percent.
“It is such a small community that its going to be devastating, I imagine, because its the only employment round here accept for a few odd places,” says resident Pat Skinner.
Sanford is talking with other potential employers and will look at whether any staff can be deployed elsewhere within the company.
Over the past two years the virus has killed between 70 and 80 percent of juvenile oysters in Northland and Coromandel.
“This virus is known internationally. We are not quite sure how it started and what caused it. But it's here now and we have to live with it,” says Mr Barratt.
Sanford is researching ways of dealing with the virus, but does not expect a swift solution.
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