Join the team at Kono

If you're growing your product in a clean, beautiful, looked-after environment, you're going to get the best possible product that you can produce. I believe our green shell mussels are the best because they're grown in these beautiful crystal-clear waters of the Sounds. They get the high nutrient which gives them a nice flavour. They've got a beautiful shell — they're just an all-round good-looking product.

Five to seven months ago this was actually seaweed up at Kaitaia which washes up on the beach. It comes down here in 10 kilo bags, and then we spread it out onto the rope which is held on by a stocking. The stocking here is biodegradable and it rots away after about two weeks to be nothing left.

Once that green shell mussel is nice and fat and plump, the harvester will come and take them in for processing. It's amazing - when I started off, we just did 9 ton a day, and now we still come here and we do 55–56 ton a day, 78 ton in the best day, and we've got the best gear in the Sounds. I can't say enough about how well we looked after this company - they've been awesome to us.

One of my passions is the care for the environment. Just like Connell, I want to leave this place in a better condition than what it was when I got here.