Whitianga fisherman fined for hefty crayfish catch
‘‘Accurate reporting also ensures the legitimacy of product supplied to the market. Failure to do so opens the system up to abuse. ‘‘That’s why MPI views all such breaches very seriously. This type of offending won’t be tolerated.’’ Plumstead says Macla
‘‘Accurate reporting also ensures the legitimacy of product supplied to the market. Failure to do so opens the system up to abuse.
MPI spokesman Adam Plumstead
A commercial Whitianga fisherman who failed to record almost 500kg of crayfish caught in an area of declining stocks has been fined for his ‘‘disappointing actions’’.
Whitianga man William John Maclardy, 36, has also had his $100,000 fishing vessel, Smooth Torquer, forfeited to the Crown. Maclardy was convicted and fined $2200 and his company was fined $6000 in Thames District Court this week.
In early January this year Ministry for Primary Industries fishing officers boarded Maclardy’s boat off the coast of Whitianga for a routine inspection. Because the vessel is a day-fishing vessel, catch effort landing returns are required to be completed for each days’ fishing.
During the inspection it was found that Maclardy hadn’t completed returns for nine days between December 22, 2017 and January 8, 2018. The total amount of crayfish unrecorded was 483kg – all of which was still held by the company at its on shore holding facility, MPI said in a statement.
Due to a power outage at the company’s holding tank facility, 220kg of the crayfish died and were seized and disposed of by the Ministry. The rest was sold for $24,130.90. The money was subsequently forfeited to the Crown.
‘‘This fisherman should have known better,’’ MPI spokesman Adam Plumstead said. ‘‘The integrity and maintenance of the quota management system is dependent on commercial fishers accurately reporting their catch within required timeframes.’’
It was even more disappointing given the offending happened in the ‘CRA2’ area – an area of depleting crayfish stocks stretching from Auckland through the Coromandel and Bay of Plenty to the East Cape. The area has recently had it’s allowable catch limits reduced to help the fishery rebuild.