Tauranga fisherman Elvis Teddy has lost his second appeal against his convictions rising from a marine protest off the East Cape in April, 2011.

The Opotiki fishing boat skipper was arrested by police who boarded his boat, San Pietro, during protests against Brazilian company Petrobras' seismic survey of the Raukumara basin.

Tauranga fisherman Elvis Teddy.

Teddy had charges of breaching maritime safety regulations and resisting arrest, which were dismissed following a defended hearing at Tauranga in July, 2012.

It was ruled the incident took place outside New Zealand's 12-mile territorial limit.

But Teddy was ordered back to court after the High Court overturned the decision to dismiss the charges last year.

Before returning to court Teddy obtained leave to take the case to the Court of Appeal on two questions of law:

Should section 65 of the Maritime Transport Act 1994 be applied extraterritorially by necessary implication?

And do arrest powers provided by the Crimes Act 1961 empower the New Zealand Police to stop and board vessels and to arrest offenders extraterritorially?

Following a Court of Appeal hearing in April, a decision released today shows the Court replied ‘Yes' to both questions, in respect of NZ ships, and in respect of offences involving NZ ships.

Teddy's appeal is dismissed and the case will return to the District Court for the resumption of the defended hearing.

New Zealand law has been changed since Teddy's case first arose. The Maritime Transport Act has been changed to apply to New Zealand ships in any location.