The Opportunity – Marine Biotech Innovation
Port Nicholson Fisheries is one of New Zealand’s largest exporters of live lobsters (Jasus edwardsii) to China. Most of our product is distributed to fine dining restaurants in Shanghai. Some is, however, unsuitable for export and may be sold domestically, tailed or discarded. These are all relatively unprofitable uses of the lobster, so the company wishes to explore how this valuable resource might be better utilized with a goal of greatly reducing the amount of lobster that we waste while increasing returns to our iwi stakeholders.
The company is therefore interested in exploring opportunities for new product development by processing lobster by-products such as shells, heads, organs or blood into nutraceuticals, flavourings and oils for use as ingredients in other products or as consumer-ready offerings.

Tell me more about the application process.