A fishing company and skipper fined for illegally trawling a protected area off the Bay of Plenty coast are sentenced on the basis they had not deliberately bottom trawled in a protected area or falsified the returns, says the Ministry of Primary Industries.

The 45 metre stern trawler Seamount Explore. Photo: Neil Pulling.

Auckland-based Antons Trawling Company Limited and Kyle Hasson, its then skipper, were both convicted of making false or misleading statements in fishing returns contrary to section 230 of the Fisheries Act 1996.

They pleaded guilty in the Wellington District Court on February 10.

Antons Ltd was fined $56,525.00 for fishing in the protected Rumble IV seamount off the East Cape and convicted and discharged for failing to notify Fisheries Communication Centre before entering the Benthic Protected Area.

Antons will also have to pay about $130,000 in deemed values for the fish that was incorrectly reported as being taken in the Auckland Fisheries Management Area.

The company's vessel - the 45 metre stern trawler Seamount Explorer - is forfeited to the Crown with a redemption fee of $50,000 payable to have the vessel returned. Hasson was fined a total of $9100 on all charges.

The convictions arise from two trips during 2010 when Hasson illegally fished the Rumble IV seamount, and reported the 31 tonnes of fish taken as coming from the Auckland Fisheries Management Area, when they were taken from the Central Management Area.

The Rumble IV seamount is about 100 nautical miles north of Lottin Point, and about the same distance east of Opito Point near the Mercury Islands.

The seamount is a benthic protection area closed to bottom trawling since 2007 to protect marine life likely to be damaged by bottom trawling. Authorisation is required and at least two MPI observers must be on board.

'While the bottom trawling in the Benthic Protection Area by Mr Hasson in this case was not deliberate, the environmental value of these areas has been recognised and protected. It is important that the companies sending skippers to sea give them adequate training and resources so that mistakes such as this do not happen,” says MPI investigations manager Steve Ham.

The fishing company and the skipper are also convicted of either making false or misleading statements in, or material omissions from, landing returns.

Antons Trawling Company Limited is also convicted of the associated offences of making false or misleading statements in the monthly harvest returns in relation to a total of 31 tonnes of Alfonsino and Bluenose.

Both parties are also sentenced on four charges relating to fishing in a marine conservation area closed to bottom trawling activity.

The Seamount Explorer entered an area known as the Tectonic Reach on January 18, 2010, and conducted seven bottom trawls inside the restricted area over two days.

The behaviour undermines the Quota Management System, which relies on accurate and consistent reporting of the areas where fish are caught, says Steve.

'The information provided by commercial fishermen on their fishing returns is important for managing commercial fisheries and making sure they are sustainable. It also can provide anyone misreporting, regardless of whether or not the offending is deliberate, with an advantage over other fishers who may be reporting correctly” says Steve.

Steve encourages fishing industry operators and non-commercial fishers to report any suspected illegal activity through the Ministry's 0800 4 Poacher number (0800 4 76224).