An illegal haul of rare rock lobster taken from the high seas has earned a Christchurch-based fishing company a hefty fine, the Ministry of Fisheries says.
Vostochnaia Fishing (NZ) Ltd and its director, Igor Karpenko, were convicted and fined in the Tauranga District Court on Friday on charges of taking lobster
from the high seas using a New Zealand-registered ship without a high seas fishing permit.
Fisheries prosecutor Morgan Dunn told the court the rock lobsters were caught in March and April 2003 at seamounts in the Pacific Ocean about halfway between Peru and New Zealand, over 1000 nautical miles from Easter Island, the ministry said in a statement.
This area is the only place in the world where this species of lobster has been identified.
During this trip, the vessel landed approximately 4757.5kg of whole rock lobster.
When it berthed at Tauranga on May 9, fishery officers intercepted and seized the vessel along with 2220kg of frozen processed lobster.
The company then sent home the Russian crew and Peruvian captain.
Karpenko denied knowing a high seas fishing permit was required to take the fish.
He said he understood that he only needed a permit to unload the fish.
The company was fined $9000, Karpenko was fined $3000, and the company's 34m vessel Chatham Explorer (valued at $130,000) was forfeited, along with its catch of rock lobster valued at $30,375.
The ministry's district compliance manager, Brendon Mikkelsen, said as a party to the United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement, New Zealand had an obligation to control the activities of New Zealand-flagged vessels fishing on the high seas (the waters outside the national fisheries jurisdiction of any country).
An increasing number of New Zealand vessels are seeking opportunities on the high seas, he said in a statement.
But in order to ensure long-term sustainability, specific arrangements for the management of fish stocks have been implemented in certain places.
This was the second high seas fishing-related prosecution in Tauranga this year.
- NZPA
