Fleet ordered into port over seabird slaughter

A commercial fishing fleet is being ordered back to port today and faces tough new penalties after flouting rules designed to cut the number of seabirds, including albatrosses, killed every year.

Fisheries Minister David Benson-Pope said two-thirds of the 35-strong squid fishing fleet were "blatantly" flouting rules agreed between the Ministry of Fisheries and the Squid Fishery Management Company a year ago.

Some vessels in the fleet were engaging in what he called outrageous behaviour, but he would not specify whether those boats were New Zealand or overseas owned.

At least 20 boats must get back to port within five days from today from fishing grounds in the Southern Ocean north of the subantarctic Islands.

Each boat will now be forced to take an independent fisheries observer on board.

Mr Benson-Pope said new financial penalties would be introduced for the first time because a voluntary code of practice signed by the industry a year ago was obviously not working.

Operators would face fines of up to $100,000 once he gazetted the new regulations in about six weeks.

"Only a third of the industry is behaving responsibly."

The minister's moves were sparked by a fisheries observer on one of the squid boats reporting significant seabird catches last month.

On April 21, Mr Benson-Pope ordered an Orion to fly over the squid fleet to find out which boats were ignoring the rules.

Observers on the aircraft found most of the boats were ignoring the code of practice, with almost half not using bird-scaring devices and a third discharging offal during shooting or hauling of nets.

The squid fleet, which operates some of the largest vessels - some up to 100m - in rough and inhospitable waters as far south as the subantarctic Auckland Islands, has been a key target of environmental groups over the number of seabirds caught and drowned in nets.

The fleet is mostly foreign-owned but a majority of the boats are chartered by New Zealand fishing firms.

Mr Benson-Pope said it would take about six weeks to gazette the tough new penalties for not using mitigation measures, including fines of up to $100,000.

He expected the industry would not be pleased but notified it last night of the actions he was taking.

He believed New Zealanders would be shocked by the number of petrels and albatrosses killed each year, although he would not say if he agreed with Forest and Bird's estimate of 10,000 annually.

Yesterday Forest and Bird spokesman Barry Weeber said it was a "positive" move that the minister had clamped down on the squid fleet but he could have acted sooner.

The chief executive of the Squid Fishery Management Company, Richard Cade, could not be reached for comment.

Saving the seabirds

* One estimate puts seabird deaths from commercial fishing at 10,000 a year.
* The national voluntary plan of action or code includes no discharge of offal that attracts the birds, and using bird-scaring devices.
* Around 35 squid vessels are at present fishing in the Southern Ocean, mostly chartered by New Zealand companies.