Smith Stuart: Annual Review Debate — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeSmith Stuart: Annual Review Debate — In Committee[Sitting date: 29 April 2015. Volume:704;Page:3058. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]STUART SMITH (National—Kaikōura):Well it is great to have an opportunity to speak on the primary industries appropriation tonight and I would like to start by talking about fishing which seems to have been raised by the previous speaker Rino Tirikatene. In fact some really good news came out overnight. Aotearoa Fisheries Ltd’s subsidiary has just got the first business agreement with the Dubai Government which is fantastic news. It comes from very good investment by the Ministry for Primary Industries into that area.I would also like to talk about shellfish and the production technology company that has just been set up in Nelson which the Minister touched on earlier. That is a Primary Growth Partnership in conjunction with Sanford and I have had the pleasure of being out with Sanford and looking at the aquacultural industry in the Marlborough Sounds not so long ago. It was really interesting only a few weeks ago to talk about the opportunities that that particular project will bring to the industry. It is phenomenal. In the wild there are 30 to 40 million eggs released by a female mussel but only two of those mature through. The opportunity to do it in a controlled environment with a controlled gene stock really is the opportunity here. At the moment the industry gets its spat from two sources. It is really just relying on the spat either washing up on shore in seaweed up in Northland or blundering on to racks in Golden Bay. It really is not reliable and the source is not really top quality either. So this gives a real breeding programme opportunity. So it is a fantastic opportunity.The other Primary Growth Partnership I want to talk about this evening is Precision Seafood Harvesting. That is a wonderful innovation that is driven by the Primary Growth Partnership. It has developed new fishing technology which is going through the patent process as we speak. It gives an opportunity to be much more selective in what is caught in the net. Smaller fish escape from the net fish are landed on the boat in much better condition and it gives an opportunity to return bycatch over the side. Most fish are landed alive and are in much better condition and that gives an opportunity to make a lot more money by selling high-quality fish through to our export markets. So it is a great result for the fishing industry.Turning to biosecurity: one of the big issues as far as biosecurity goes in the Kaikōura electorate is Chilean needle grass. A group of people got together and it was one of their top issues. During the adjournment I had the pleasure of hosting the Minister for Primary Industries and the Prime Minister at Te Mania Angus in the Conway Flat area and that had over 400 farmers there. They were concerned about such things as Chilean needle grass and how to double primary sector exports by 2025 whilst operating within the environmental constraints that they are operating under.I note that my colleague was talking earlier about OVERSEER. The Ministry for Primary Industries have put a lot of money into OVERSEER. It is an iterative program and it will take time. It would not matter how much money you threw at it today tomorrow you would want to be putting some more in it because it just develops over time. One of the problems we have is that the science and the regulators are having trouble keeping pace with change. But farmers on that day at Te Mania Angus were there to really discuss all those issues and to really drive home to the rest of New Zealand that although the primary industries are the economic engines for the New Zealand economy they are also guardians of the land. They care very deeply about the environment and realise that their lifestyle and their income is dependent on a good environment and a good environmental result.The other big announcement which was I think briefly touched on by the Minister earlier is the Pastoral Greenhouse Gas—Reports noted.