In 1964 the main fish caught in Chatham Islands waters was cod. However, in 1968, 5,900 tonnes of crayfish was exported from the islands, mostly overseas. Howard Page describes the scene when he arrived to hunt for crayfish about a year after the boom started.
Transcript
Interviewer: At what point in the boom did you get down here then was it well underway by the time you arrived?
It must've been about going for about 12 months before we joined it. It was really fantastic, we just couldn't believe the amount of crayfish that was here.
Interviewer: And that I suppose that'd come as a great surprise to you having fished down here quite some time prior to that?
Yes, oh yes, just thought, well how dumb where were you know, get on it earlier.
Interviewer: A lot of fishermen down here, apparently been.
Oh, every fisherman in New Zealand there is has been crayfishing down here some time I think there was a terrible lot of boats and there was all sorts down here as crews, you name it it was here, they all just flocked in and there was no use, you didn't, at one time we just knew every face on the island but you couldn't keep up with them then.
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Alexander Turnbull Library, Dominion Post Collection (PA-Group-00685)
Reference: EP/1968/4295/9a
Sound file from Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision. Any re-use of this audio is a breach of copyright. To request a copy of the recording, contact Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision (Spectrum 750 – Chatham Islands Pt 2 /Reference number 16192)
Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.