Win for crew of Oyang

Foreign fishing crews have won a case that could see them recover millions of dollars in unpaid wages from vessels forfeited for fishing offences in New Zealand.

More than 20 crew of South Korean Sajo Oyang vessels have claims for unpaid wages.

But the company and the Ministry for Primary Industries have disputed some of the claims.

In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court on Friday sided with the crew, saying it did not matter if the crew had not worked on the particular vessel that was forfeited, or whether their claims were lodged before forfeiture.

Sajo Oyang corporation owned three vessels that were being chartered to a New Zealand company, Southern Storm Fishing. Southern Storm is now insolvent.

One of the vessels, the Oyang 70, sank off the Otago coast in 2010 with the loss of six lives. The Oyang 75 was forfeited to the Crown in 2012 after its master and four officers were convicted of fishing offences.

The Oyang 77 was also forfeited in 2014 after its master was convicted of fishing offences. The Oyang 75 was the far more valuable vessel, worth about $11 million, while the Oyang 77 was reportedly worth about $1.5m.

Twenty-six crew, believed to be Indonesian – 24 from the Oyang 77 and two who survived the sinking of the Oyang 70 – made claims for unpaid wages.

The Oyang 77 crew claimed a total of $4,727,317.80, while the two from the Oyang 70 said they were owed $453,726.72

The ultimate issuewas whether the 26 crew from Oyang 70 and Oyang 77 who were not employed on Oyang 75 were able to make a claim against the value of the Oyang 75 for unpaid wages.

The Supreme Court said the case should now go back to the High Court for other issues to be decided.

Sajo Oyang has also staked a claim to the forfeited vessels. The process that has been suggested is that a court will hear the claims to an interest in the vessels, and that would include deciding the validity and extent of the wages claims.

The Supreme Court said it was told that both vessels were released under a legal bond and were no longer in New Zealand waters.

The crew were also believed to have returned to Indonesia. About 30 crew members from the Oyang 75 walked off it in Lyttelton in 2011 in protest at the conditions and not being paid, and spent several weeks in Christchurch before leaving the country.