Dunedin fishing company ordered to forfeit boat, pay fine

Anderson Fishing Company's vessel Naturaliste II and co-owner Brock Anderson motors on Otago Harbour in November 2019. Photo / Stephen Jaquiery

A Dunedin fishing company has had to forfeit its vessel and been fined after it was found breaking the rules eight times.

Yesterday, the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) issued a Forfeiture Notice stating that Anderson Fishing Company Ltd's vessel, Naturaliste II, and associated fishing equipment had been handed over to the crown.

When contacted yesterday, MPI's regional fisheries compliance manager Garreth Jay said the company was caught set netting within the four-nautical-mile prohibited area on eight separate occasions.

By law, vessels were not allowed to set net within four nautical miles of the coast.

As a result the company had been fined $4000 in the Dunedin District Court recently and its vessel and equipment had to be forfeited, Jay said.

The forfeiture was mandatory unless the court found special reasons not to, he said.

According to the Companies Office website, Anderson Fishing Company was owned by Brock and Nicola Anderson, both of Waikouaiti.

The company's Facebook page described itself as a local fishing business based in Port Chalmers.

It had 35 working days to apply for forfeiture relief and the company could use the vessel to fish in the meantime, Jay said.

Neither of the company's shareholders could be reached for comment yesterday.