Supporting the next generation

The Sunderland Marine Young Fisher of the Year Award was founded in 2024 as a collaboration between Young Fish Aotearoa NZ, founding sponsor Sunderland Marine and the New Zealand Federation of Commercial Fishermen.

The award was created to celebrate the achievements and hard work of New Zealand’s young commercial fishers and to help nurture their careers by providing opportunities to further their maritime training.

Thanks to Sunderland Marine, winners receive a $5,000 scholarship to further their maritime training and are presented with the award's custom trophy for the year.

The Young Fisher of the Year Award trophy was made by Tasman-based artist Steven of Werble Hill Crafts, who created the tāmure (snapper) sculpture from marine-grade stainless steel and mounted it on a piece of Nelson Tasman macrocarpa wood. An artistic play on the custom of mounting a prize fish, it embodies the passion and dedication of the industry’s youth. Catching fish requires both patience and perseverance – qualities that are found in many of the young commercial fishers working in New Zealand.

Past winners

  • 2025 - Cole Robinson

    Spear fisher Cole Robinson (left) founded Strait Speared in 2022 after set-net closures along the West Coast of the North Island functionally ended Wellington’s commercial inshore butterfish fishery. Robinson, along with business partner Thomas Strawbridge, has spent the past three years developing relationships with local Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington restaurants and supplying chefs with individually caught, sustainably harvested fish.

  • 2024 - Logan Murman

    Third-generation fisher Logan Murman’s fishing career began when he was 17, working as a deckhand on a local Leigh cray boat and longliners. At 20 he got his skipper’s ticket and continued working around Leigh until 2019, when he headed down to the West Coast to broaden his experience with stints fishing for tuna and a few months as a watchkeeper on a hoki trawler. Murman returned to Leigh and bought his own vessel, which he now skippers, rotating between fishing for crays and longlining for finfish depending on the season. He's a well-respected member of both the Leigh Commercial Fishermen’s Association and the Federation.  

“Long-term I want to have a career in the commercial fishing industry. My dad has always been a well-respected fisherman and I’d like to be the same. It’s quite cool to show the old man that I’m on the right track.”

– 2025 winner Cole Robinson

“The Award was helpful financial support.”

– 2024 winner Logan Murman