I bought some Hoki during the week, $19.00 a kilo, who can blame me with snapper at $48.00 a kilo?

RP, I am guessing, The overseas' fishing fleet usually have a freezer ship working in tandem, it's just a matter of the fishing vessels transferring their catch and it is snap frozen for the journey to an Asian port.

Possibly/probably, the cost of double, sometimes triple handling at a home port is where the problems and expense lie. Whilst your concerns are fully understandable, especially your wish to see more people employed, the cost to the consumer, the housewife, would be to vastly increase the cost of the product, thereby adding to inflation figures.

Here is Hawke's Bay, especially in Hastings, we have a huge anomaly when it comes to employment. WINZ have large numbers on their books as unemployed job seekers, and yet orchard owners are paying fares, accommodation and health costs to bring in labour from the Pacific Islands. These workers have to be paid the going rate, they are not cheap labour.

Here is Hastings there are really large numbers of Islanders, people with an excellent work ethic. They are not taking jobs from locals, locals just won't do this kind of work.

In the ports where those trawlers work from, I don't know if there is an unemployment problem, but perhaps WINZ could step in and help employers take on the staff needed for home processing, this instead of paying out unemployment benefits.

Any suggestion such as that will be seen as bashing the unemployed, this constant moan is far easier than viewing it as a way of helping people gain work skills so they can support themself.