Style: October 01, 2021

26 Style | Feature
By telling the story of food traceability and safeguarding
species by fishing for the season, Invercargill-based
Nate Smith has blown commercial fishing concepts out
the water. In doing so, he’s won the favour of many top
restaurant chefs throughout the country; Gravity Fishing
allows chefs to tell customers the story of how their fish
was line-hooked just yesterday.
Operating around Stewart Island, Nate and his partner
Anna Urwin wanted to educate the masses on the benefits
of fishing-to-order and seasonal produce. A year ago, the
Gravity Experience became an instant hit with food tourists
looking for a reason to cross the Foveaux Strait.
CONNECTING PEOPLE TO PLACE
“It’s easy to lose touch these days,” says our seafaring guide
Nate Smith. “Food brings us back, it reconnects us to the
earth – it’s not only giving us dinner but nourishing the soul.”
His business aims to reconnect eaters with wild food
resources by getting people to come down and, literally,
jump on board.
“They can relax while we’re out fishing if they want to,
or they can roll their sleeves up and take pride in harvesting
the protein they eat that night.
“I hope it’s educational – by connecting provenance
to history, I want others to see that kaimoana is such a
precious resource; we need to look after it.”
Gravity Fishing covers a huge fishing area, 200-plus
nautical miles, starting at Slope Point, on the south-eastern
coast of the South Island and finishing at Awarua Point, on
the south-western coast. It includes Rakiura (Stewart Island),
the home of Nate’s Ngāi Tahu ancestors. “You can’t beat
it – the place keeps me humble,” he says.
Aboard the fishing boat, visitors use hook and line,
catching only what’s needed for dinner. The fish is killed
using an ancient, humane Japanese technique called
Ikejime. Depending on what’s in season, they vary their
destination accordingly.
“People can come down here six times a year and
each trip would be different. We’ve just finished oyster
season and next month [October] we’re onto scallops,”
Nate advises.
Top-class Kiwi chefs then make the fish sing, cooking it
on deck and serving it with other local produce and organic
wine, in a sensory hook-to-plate triumph. The collaboration
involved is something for which food tourists are willing
to pay decent dollars. Such chefs involved in the Gravity
Experience now include Giulio Sturla, Craig Martin, Cory
Campbell and Ryan Henley.
“We don’t need a building in a city to have a
restaurant!” he quips. “It’s an opportunity for these chefs
to have their own classroom – we’re trying to preach the
same message.”
IT’S ALL ABOUT RESEARCH
Before starting his solo fishing operation, Nate went
to great lengths to understand the requirements of the
prospective hospitality audience. He sent samples of underutilised,
in-season fish species with information on how to
cook it (recipes and all) to restaurants around the country.
“They couldn’t believe the lengths I had gone to, to be
as sustainable as I could. The seasonality of produce gives
us an edge. Plus I could prove the nutritional value via oil
and fat content, utilising data from all over the world,”
Nate recalls.
ABOVE: Nate Smith’s business, Gravity Fishing, aims to reconnect eaters with seasonal wild food resources. Photo: James Jubb