Harrison Mallabar
“I always liked the ocean and fish, but it wasn’t until I saw a pamphlet about aquaculture when I was in year 13 that I even contemplated joining the sector, and a good friend of mine convinced me to go along to an NMIT Aquaculture introduction trip”
Team Leader - New Zealand King Salmon
Although Harrison Mallabar says he would work with another species, he remains firmly a ‘fin fish’ guy.
Harrison is currently a Team Leader with New Zealand King Salmon at their Clay Point and Ngāmahau sites in the Marlborough Sounds.
Although his aquaculture career is progressing strongly now, when he was at school he knew nothing about the industry.
“I always liked the ocean and fish, but it wasn’t until I saw a pamphlet about aquaculture when I was in year 13 that I even contemplated joining the sector, and a good friend of mine convinced me to go along to an NMIT Aquaculture introduction trip” he says.
After high school he enrolled in the Diploma in Aquaculture at NMIT. Everything was going well until 2020 when Covid 19 disrupted his studies.
“All classes were cancelled and I found I just couldn’t do the online thing, so I turned to fish mongering full-time.”
About eighteen months later, the lure of aquaculture saw him contacting a former manager at New Zealand King Salmon where he had completed a placement during his studies.
He offered Harrison a job as an Aquaculture Technician in their Pelorus farms, and after seven months, he moved on to the Tory Channel.
A year later Harrison was encouraged to apply for the Team Leader role.
“I didn’t feel I was ready at all—I had to be talked into it. However, I took a leap of faith and made the step up.”
Although he says it was a ‘trial by fire’ Harrison is glad he took on the role.
“There were moments in my first year when I thought ‘what am I doing here?’ as I tried to figure out the management side of the role, but I found getting through early challenges and building a team very rewarding.”
Since then, Harrison has taken part in the AQNZ Emerging and Evolving Leaders’ programmes and is able to reflect on how much he has grown into the role.
“Although there is always room for improvement I like to think I am nailing it,” he says. “I try to keep as hands on as possible —leading from the front—and gain respect from being out there and doing it.”
Harrison says study provides a good foundation for a career in aquaculture, but he says if you have an interest, and a level of maturity, then ‘climb straight into the industry and just do it’.