A sixteen-month prison term has been handed to the former director of a New Zealand fishing company who was aware that fish were being caught and landed illegally for profit.
Former All Weather Fishing Company Limited director Glen Owen Wright, currently already in prison for a set of unrelated offences, was given this additional sentence after facing a representative charge under the Fisheries Act for failing to prevent the offending by his company along with obstructing a fishery officer.
The outcome comes as the conclusion of a long Fisheries New Zealand compliance investigation which included successful prosecutions of another company and individuals for related offending.
‘Mr Wright was the director of a company that illegally caught and landed nearly 15 tonnes of snapper, and more than 140kg of kahawai and 40kg of grey mullet,’ said Fisheries New Zealand director of fisheries compliance Steve Ham.
‘The company did not have the required quota to legally catch the fish and did not report or record the catch. The rules are there to ensure sustainability for everyone. The court found Mr Wright was aware that fish was being caught and landed illegally by his company but did nothing to prevent it.’
The same investigation last year resulted in licenced fish receiver,Sea World Limited, which traded as Seamart, being fined $360,000 for illegally supplying fish valued at over $348,000 to other seafood companies, while an employee was jailed for more than three years and a former director of that company was placed on twelve months home detention.
‘The vast majority of commercial fishers do the right thing. This fish was stolen, and the motivation was greed and profit,’ Steve Ham said.
‘The court’s sentence today should send a strong message that there are serious consequences for anyone involved in this type of black market trade.’
