A fishing company based in Northland in New Zealand has been fined $16,500 for failing to deploy the correct longline gear, and for providing a false statements on fish landing returns, following a prosecution by Fisheries New Zealand.
The company neglected to use tori lines which are required to prevent accidental seabird capture when surface long lining.
‘All longliners are expected to use tori lines when surface longlining. Video footage showed the fishing vessel, Carolina M, was longlining without using this bird scaring device – which increases the risk of catching endangered seabirds. The rules are there for a reason and most commercial fishers follow them closely,’ said Fisheries New Zealand district manager, fisheries compliance, Glen Blackwell.
Off the coast of the Bay of Plenty, another of the company’s vessels, Kiella, filed an electronic report identifying a different area to where the fish was actually harvested. The following month, Kiella filed another incorrect electronic report, related to its catch of snapper and trevally. Both these incidents occurred in areas north of Auckland.
‘It is a fisher’s responsibility to accurately report their catch,’ Glen Blackwell said. ‘This information is an important part of considerations when setting catch limits, so we take misreporting seriously.’
