Illegal Acts Of Chinese Charter Boat A Disgrace

Conservation Minister pressing for prosecution

Conservation Minister Nick Smith is angry that a Chinese chartered fishing vessel, the Fu-Yuan No4, has shown such blatant disregard for New Zealand's marine environment and has called on the agencies to prosecute.

"The vessel was committing numerous illegal acts in respect of breach of the 12mile limit, poor hygiene, and lack of fish quality control. My particular concern as Conservation Minister is reports that the vessel was dumping tens of thousands of metres of nylon jig line. This boats activities are an insult to New Zealand Seaweek and a flagrant violation of our maritime laws. These carelessly dumped nylon lines will be silent killers of our marine life for decades."

The vessel is from the People's Republic of China and is under charter to Sea Bounty Limited, an Auckland registered company. The violations were noted by a Ministry of Fisheries observer paid for out of Conservation Services Levies.

"Most of our chartered fishing vessels have no monitoring whatsoever. If this is what goes on on vessels with observers, the mind boggles as to what happens when no one is there to witness foreign fishing boat practices. This case only reinforces the importance of Conservation Services Levies to fund Government observers."

The vessel, which is berthed at Lyttleton, will be inspected by Department of Conservation officials before it is unloaded tomorrow morning.

"This sort of practice has got to stop. I want the people responsible held accountable and a prosecution pursued. We just can't go on treating our marine environment in this way."