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A Nelson-based fishing company has been convicted of illegal fishing in a marine reserve off the coast of Kaikōura.
The finding comes months after Captain Darryle Saunders was found guilty of the same crime.
In a reserved decision this month, Judge Jo Rielly ruled in favor of the Ministry of Primary Industries in its case against Amaltal Fishing Ltd (which is wholly owned by the Talleys fishing company).
While Amaltal’s attorneys had argued that it was unfair to attribute Saunders’s actions to them, Rielly said it would be regrettable if the legal consequences “could be avoided on the basis of advanced business structures.”
READ MORE:
* The judge rejects the request to dismiss the illegal fishing charges
* Skipper responsible for verifying fishing permits, says Amaltal
* Amaltal defends accusation of illegal fishing in protected maritime reserve
* Amaltal skipper fined $ 15,525 for fishing in the marine reserve
Jessica Desmond, an ocean activist for Greenpeace, said the ruling indicated an end to allowing Talley’s to escape by using its employees as scapegoats.
“What we have seen with Talley’s historically is a pattern of bad behavior: repeated accusations that their vessels illegally tow in protected areas, followed by attempts to evade responsibility by blaming the captains,” he said.
“We are pleased that this time Talley did not get away with it. We hope that this indicates a change from the previous position of MPI, where they have stated that they do not prosecute the illegal activities of large fishing companies, as they will not change their behavior ”.
Michael T Burt
The Amaltal Mariner’s skipper had previously admitted to fishing illegally in a marine reserve. Amaltal has also been found guilty of the crime.
The crime occurred in March 2019, when the Sailor of Amaltal drifted into the Hikurangi Marine Reserve while fishing for orange roughy.
Initially the Sailor had been fishing east and south of the reserve, but drifted about 900 m into the reserve during a bottom trawl on 17 March.
It was reported that about 104 kg of fish were caught with the boat within the marine reserve for part of the trawl. The fish then sold for $ 489.58 (along with the rest of the catch for the trip).
Throughout the course of the net, the ship’s skipper, Darryle Saunders, said he had no idea it was within a restricted area.
Saunders received a catch plan for the trip that included instructions to avoid all closed or restricted fishing areas, and emphasized the captain’s responsibility to ensure those areas were accurate on the ship’s plotting devices.
However, while the reservation had been marked on a paper letter on board the ship, it had not been marked on any of the ship’s electronic devices.
The breach was detected by MPI through its geospatial monitoring system, which is triggered if a boat enters a restricted or prohibited fishing zone.
At an earlier hearing, Saunders pleaded guilty to the same charge and was found guilty and fined $ 15,525.
The charges against Amaltal were heard in a one-judge trial at Nelson District Court in August.
MPI prosecutor Julie Wotton said that while Saunders, as a Talleys employee, had been convicted of the charges, she did not exclude the possibility that another party could be responsible.
Wotton said that, as the permit holder and registered operator of the vessel, under the Fisheries Act, Amaltal was liable for the breach of strict liability principles.
He said there was also no reasonable excuse for not knowing where the marine reserve was or not putting it on his electronic mapping system.
He said it was “inexplicable” that nothing had been done, especially when the marine reserve had existed for more than four years at the time of the violation.
In her decision, Judge Rielly said that while Saunders was the captain of the Amaltal Mariner and trawled in the Hikurangi Reserve, he had been acting “within the scope of his agency” for Amaltal Fishing.
Rielly said his interpretation of the parliamentary intent was that the actions of a ship’s master could and should be attributed to the ship’s operator, which applied regardless of the employment agreement.
“In the context of increasingly complicated limited liability company structures, it is important that the integrity of the Marine Reserve Law is maintained.
“It would be an unfortunate outcome in law if the consequences foreseen by Parliament could be circumvented by relying on advanced business structures.”
Defense attorney Honor Lanham said that since the crime was a violation of the Marine Reserves Act rather than the Fisheries Act, it was “completely irrelevant” that Amaltal had the permit, as no one was allowed to fish in anyway. a marine reserve.
Lanham said in that case that what mattered was who did the physical act of catching the fish, which was Saunders.
He said it was unfair to attribute Saunders’s actions to Amaltal, when Saunders did not have a direct contractual relationship with Amaltal, nor was he responsible for any of its operations.
A sentencing date has not yet been set.
Greenpeace said that bottom trawling is “an incredibly destructive form of fishing that undermines the entire ocean system. When bottom trawls crawl through seamounts, it does enormous damage to slow-growing corals and everything that lives there. The seamounts studied have shown no signs of recovery, even decades later.
After the breach, Talleys arranged for the conspirators on their vessels to include the reserve, and geofencing systems were also installed.
