Three people were rescued in the early hours of this morning after a fishing boat hit rocks in the Bay of Islands just before 4am.
At 3.50 this morning a distress signal was sent from the 12m longline charter vessel saying it had hit rocks.
Coastguard volunteers were paged to respond to the incident on rescue vessel Bay Rescue which departed Doves Bay Marina at 4.20am.
The boat was found north of Whale Bay on rocks and was 90 per cent submerged, Coastguard said.