Ross Thorburn, a commercial fisherman of 30 years, experienced death threats by an angry angler in Opua. Photo / Michael Cunningham.
Ross Thorburn, a commercial fisherman of 30 years, experienced death threats by an angry angler in Opua. Photo / Michael Cunningham.
An angler who failed to catch a fish told a commercial fisherman he would cut him open from his "balls up".
The terrifying ordeal at popular Bay of Islands port Ōpua was the latest in a string of tense encounters faced by Ngunguru-based commercial fisherman Ross Thorburn.
Thorburn and threecrew members were on their commercial boat, tied to Ōpua Wharf in late November, waiting for a truck to pick up their haul.
A lone man in a dinghy neared the vessel and told him: "I didn't catch any fish today because of you".
Thorburn said in the 10 minutes that followed verbal attacks escalated to a beer bottle being hurled.
"He wanted to get at me. He was saying he wanted to cut me and stab me. He said he'd cut me from my balls up."
The man left his dinghy for the wharf where his parents arrived and urged an end to the standoff. A crew member dialled 111 when the man climbed onto the wharf. Shortly later police arrived to resolve the confrontation.
Thorburn couldn't see or hear what officers did or said to the man as they moved to the far end of the 100m wharf.
A police spokesperson said officers tried to speak to the man who became aggressive then left in his dinghy.
Thirty minutes later, after police had left, the man returned - this time with a friend.
They tied up the dinghy, jumped out, and shouted death threats as they ran down the wharf towards the shaken fishermen, Thorburn said. "My crew yelled out saying these guys had weapons."
Thorburn urgently launched his boat, even though he was still unloading the day's catch.
"I couldn't see a knife but one of the crew said they were trying to hide something under their jacket."
Thorburn said the same crew member dialled 111 a second time and the operator comforted them with the words police were on their way. "But no one came."
The two men eventually left with a disturbing promise to return. "They yelled at us that they were going to get guns and shoot the lot of us. If they came back with guns we didn't have time to think about how to deal with them. No one was helping us; we had to deal with this ourselves."
The frightened skipper and his crew armed themselves with rocket flares and a plan to shoot the boat's fuel tank to create a potentially deadly fireball and allow them to escape into the water.
The menacing pair did return, this time clad in balaclavas and headed straight towards the commercial fishing boat.
A third 111 call was again met by a promise help was on the way.
Thorburn said the men scared the boaties when they motored close to the vessel, and then they just "buggered off".
Northland police failed to answer specific questions over not responding to the second and third 111 calls despite threats of gun violence.
Instead, they said they were continuing to investigate - including Thorburn's claim police did not repond to the later calls.
Thorburn said commercial fishermen were verbally abused by recreational anglers. He said the Bay of Islands was particularly hostile.
Fishing has been a huge part of skipper Ross Thorburn's life. Photo / supplied
He said the attacks were hurtful as he and his crew targeted species dictated by his employer.
"We are just doing our jobs out there. A lot of the fish we catch is kept in New Zealand to feed New Zealanders and a lot is exported to bring in money for the country.
"During lockdown we were considered an essential service so kept contributing to the economy."
The Economic Update for Primary Industries June 2020, issued by the Ministry of Primary Industries, reported how the primary industries have "fared better than other parts of the New Zealand economy through the lockdown".
The report indicated the seafood industry, alongside forestry, was hit the hardest by the pandemic.
"Seafood continued to be negatively affected by reduced demand from the food service industry, logistical challenges and social distancing requirements that made it difficult to operate fishing vessels.
In the year June 2019 $593 million of seafood exports were flown to countries such as China.
