Northland commercial fisher gets almost $60k penalties for failing to report tonnes of fish

A Northland commercial fisher has been given almost $60,000 worth of fines and penalties after he failed to report about 2.5 tonnes of mostly snapper, along with some kahawai and gurnard.

A Northland commercial fisher has been given fines and penalties totalling almost $60,000 after failing to report about 2.5 tonnes of fish, mostly snapper.

Hamish Robert Apatu, 54, was sentenced in the Kaitaia District Court on Monday on three charges under the Fisheries Act, based around his commercial fishing reports and the financial benefit gained by not filing them accurately.

Fisheries New Zealand inquiries found discrepancies in the numbers and weights of fish that Apatu’s company, Apatu Enterprises, landed between December 30, 2020, and March 30, 2022, at the company’s licensed fish receiver in Cable Bay.

“Around 249 bins of snapper, 62 bins of kahawai and five bins of gurnard were omitted from the official records. That’s around 2.5 tonnes of snapper and some kahawai and gurnard,” Phil Tasker, Fisheries NZ’s regional manager fisheries compliance, said.

“It would have cost around $18,000 to gain quota in the form of Annual Catch Entitlement (ACE) to land these fish. By not having ACE, the fish taken was unaccounted for and the only motivation for doing this would be to maximise profits.”

Apatu’s fishing vessel, Valiant, was forfeited and he was ordered to pay $12,000 to have it released. He must also pay a deemed value penalty of $21,255 for the unreported fish. This was on top of the court-imposed fine of $26,500 for the offending.

“When we find evidence of fishing rules being deliberately broken for financial gain, we will investigate and, if appropriate, place the matter before the court,” Tasker said. “The rules are there for a reason – to ensure sustainability of fishing resources into the future.”

Apatu’s fishing operation from Valiant would target snapper in Doubtless Bay and generally did single-day fishing trips, Tasker said.

“Two-and-a-half tonnes of snapper is a lot of fish. The resource is there for everyone and Mr Apatu was taking far more than his share.”

Fisheries NZ encourages industry operators and non-commercial fishers to report any suspected illegal activity through the Ministry for Primary Industries’ 0800 4 POACHER line (0800 47 62 24).

The Northern Advocate approached Apatu for comment, but he was unavailable at the time.