Media release 9 January 2017 – Two of last year’s New Zealand King Salmon scholarships for students studying Aquaculture at Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology (NMIT) were Jesse Barker and Russell Adams.

We recently caught up with these students to learn of their experience on the course.

Graduate Russell Adams completed four industry placements during the course and says he enjoyed its highly variable nature. His first and last practical placements were with NZKS, which included working alongside shift workers at Otanerau, where Adams enjoyed being outdoors and in a unique environment.

Adams also valued the variety and challenge of classroom work such as reviewing and creating national fisheries management plans and studying resource management issues.

Graduate Jesse Barker was accepted for NMIT’s Diploma in Aquaculture and fisheries Management in July 2016 and has since completed work experience at Clay Point’s salmon cages.

Barker says he entered the course with little knowledge of the aquaculture industry and has learned more than he anticipated. He plans to continue his studies with the aim of helping to better the aquaculture industry in future.

NZKS General Manager of Marketing Jemma McCowan says she was very pleased to present these students with their scholarships, which are awarded annually, in 2016.

“The scholarship is awarded to those who show a real promise in their studies and who we know will go on to be a great asset to the New Zealand aquaculture industry.

“These students have proven they can do just that and they will have a great future in this fast-growing industry, which offers a great number of exciting career opportunities,” says McCowan.

The NZKS scholarship assists students financially with their fees as well as enabling them to gain firsthand experience in the aquaculture industry through offers of paid work experience during semester breaks and summer holidays.

NMIT began offering the country’s first and only Diploma in Aquaculture in 2010.

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