Our Story
Created by nature, perfected by us
Apatu Aqua is a true love story – a love of the ocean, a love of the land, and a love for the flavours of the sea. When Hamish first came to Mangonui, his reaction to the area was instant: he knew he had to bring his family up from Hastings, and he knew that he needed to be working out on the sea. Within months, Hamish had convinced his wife Nichola to
take the plunge, and it wasn’t long before they had settled themselves into their new community in the Far North of New Zealand. A true labour of love: local seafood, national delivery
Hamish and Nichola soon began to experiment with Kina and their catches; designing and building their first smokehouse and specialty factory to produce gourmet, freshly smoked eels. These experiments were such a success that demand quickly grew – and the decision was made to expand, bringing in local mullet, tuna, and kahawai, and salmon from Bluff. The variety and depth of flavours, the colour, texture and quality of their fresh, hand-smoked seafood quickly gave Apatu Aqua a nationwide reputation for excellence, and saw their small family business continue to grow beyond all expectations. Good seafood takes time
There are no shortcuts to quality smoked seafood! Nichola and Hamish continue to hand-smoke all of their products, rising at 2am to stoke the fires, checking every few hours and turning the racks to ensure a consistency of colour and an immersion of flavour. After 10 to 12 hours of slow smoking, these fish have a fullness of flavour that can only come from respecting traditional methods – day after day, week after week, month after month. Each and every product that leaves Apatu Aqua has been hand-smoked, hand-prepared, and vacuum packed to preserve flavour and freshness, presenting New Zealand’s seafood with the Apatu Aqua seal of approval. Apatu Aqua, take great pride in our role as kaitiaki (custodians) of the sea. Our wide range of smoked and fresh seafood products use only the freshest fish and kai moana – to ensure the highest quality and the best taste. Our family-owned and operated business is based at beautiful Coopers Beach in NZ’s Far North. It’s hard to beat the quality of fresh kai moana (seafood) from these crystal-clear waters. Our ethical harvesting practices and natural smoking methods keep Mother Nature’s organic gift as fresh and as natural as possible. Try our fresh or smoked seafood, or for something different, why not try our award-winning seafood pâté? Let us deliver a taste of Coopers Beach taonga (treasure) to your table …
Nichola and Hamish Apatu
