Two new higher level aquaculture qualifications are being launched as part of ongoing efforts to encourage more young people into the primary sector.
Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy. Photo: RNZ
The programmes are starting next year at the Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology.
The first is a Bachelor of Agriculture, Aquaculture and Marine Conservation. The other is a post-graduate diploma in Sustainable Aquaculture.
These will sit alongside the institute's already popular Aquaculture Diploma.
Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy announced the new qualifications at the Aquaculture New Zealand conference in Nelson last week, saying the primary sector needs to attract a higher calibre of talent.
"We put out a report recently that said we've got 350,000 people involved in primary industries in New Zealand. We're going to need 50,000 over the next 10 or 11 years. Over half of them will need to have a tertiary qualification or level 4 qualification.
"Primary industries are becoming more innovative. We're going to need to attract robotic engineers, environmental planners, food scientists," he said.