Fishery ruling one-off – judge
A keen Marlborough Sounds fisherman has been let off a charge of unlawfully transporting filleted blue cod through a protected area, but the judge says the case should not set a precedent.
Christchurch District Court Judge John Strettell’s written decision on the case has come out about seven weeks after the hearing and just as the fishing season opens.
It was seen as a test of an unpopular Sounds fisheries regulation – known as ‘‘The Slot’’ – but it does not seem destined to change the rules or how they are applied.
Judge Strettell decided that the case depended on a particular set of facts, and on concessions made by the prosecution, the Ministry of Primary Industries.
Before the court was airline pilot Matthew Quentin Cox, who had denied a charge of possessing blue cod which was not whole or gutted on the Marlborough Sounds. He admitted the facts, but he wanted the rule tested.
The blue cod fishery was closed for four years, and then new regulations came into force creating ‘‘The Slot’’ which meant only cod between 30cm and 35cm in length could be landed.
Mr Cox had been on a 10-day fishing holiday with his family and they were returning from their bach – which has no road access – when they were stopped at the Waikawa Marina. They had cod fillets in a chilly bin. The fish were of the correct size and had been landed whole as required and then filleted at the bach.
However the regulations don’t allow the filleted fish to be transported by water through the Sounds because fisheries officers are unable to tell whether the fish are of a legal size.
The prosecution conceded that Mr Cox was not in breach of the regulation except for transporting the filleted fish. The judge accepted that Mr Cox did not believe he was breaking the law.
The ministry conceded that Mr Cox did not commit any offence in taking the fish. His fault was only in transporting the filleted fish through a protected area.
The case ‘‘remains very dependent on its own facts and should not be seen as a precedent for others’’, the judge said. If he had found Mr Cox was liable, on the facts he had outlined he would have discharged him without conviction. Receptionist Lorri Taylor picks 50 lucky winners from the hundreds of entries in this
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