Fishing company and skipper on trial for alleged unlawful trawling in Tasman Sea

Thursday, 17 September 2020

The Amaltal Apollo trawler on the slipway at Port Nelson.

Fishing company Amaltal and a skipper of its vessel the Apollo are on trial for allegedly trawling in an unauthorised area of the Tasman Sea.

Amaltal, the deepwater division of Talley's Group, has denied that its vessel deliberately fished in an unauthorised area during a May 2018 trip and has maintained it was a technical error based on out-of-date information given by the fisheries observer on board.

Judge David Ruth is presiding over the judge-alone trial which began in the Nelson District Court on Tuesday.

Amaltal and skipper of the Amaltal Apollo, Charles Shuttleworth, are both facing 14 charges of trawling in an unauthorised area in the north Lord Howe Rise.

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The Amaltal Apollo were mid water trawling for alfonsino when they allegedly fished in a closed area as defined by the South Pacific Regional Fishing Management Organisation. (File photo)

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The unauthorised area is defined by the South Pacific Regional Fishing Management Organisation (SPRFMO).

The incident was reported to SPRFMO, which placed the Amaltal Apollo on its draft illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) list of fishing vessels.

In February, it was reported that the vessel had been removed from that list and concerns were raised government officials had lobbied for its removal.

Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) fisheries observer Myk Rushton gave evidence on Tuesday that his trip on the Amaltal Apollo in May 2018 was his first on the high seas. He had done five or six voyages as a fisheries observer prior to that.

The Amaltal Apollo left Nelson on May 3, fishing for alfonsino.

The 14 trawls in question occurred between May 12 and 21.

Acting for MPI, prosecutor Jackson Webber asked Rushton under examination what his role was onboard the vessel when it was fishing.

Rushton said observers were reminded before every trip that they were not there to give advice, make statements or interpret legislation.

“The skipper decides where to fish…it’s not our role to tell them where they can and can’t fish.”

During the trip, there was confusion over the area the Amaltal Apollo was fishing in. There were discrepancies between the information supplied by the observer services unit, that in the high seas fishing permit and what was available on the vessel’s sea plotter.

The vessel was fishing in vulnerable marine ecosystems (VME). In certain VME’s, a “move-on” rule applied which meant if the boat caught any benthic material, it was required to move five nautical miles to fish in a different area.

In the observer diary Rushton , he wrote on May 20 about having 'a bit of a panic' as he thought he had failed to identify when the vessel was fishing in a move-on area.

“I discussed my fears with the skipper who checked the co-ordinates on the vessel’s sea plot and assured me we were not fishing in a move-on area.”

Under cross-examination from lawyer Tony Stallard who is representing Shuttleworth, Rushton was asked if he had concerns about his copy of the high-seas fishing permit having an expiry date of April 2009.

Rushton said he interpreted the data he was given and it wasn’t his job to “second guess” it but he was disappointed to learn he had been supplied with an old copy of the permit.

“If I’d had the correct information then we wouldn’t have fished where we did.”

On May 22, Rushton was woken by the factory manager and told to report to Shuttleworth. He learnt MPI had contacted the fishing company to tell them the vessel had been fishing in a closed area.

Rushton agreed neither he or the skipper thought they had been fishing in a closed area, with discussion only about the kind of VME they were fishing in.

When cross-examined by Amaltal’s lawyer Jonathan Eaton QC, he questioned if Rushton read the annexes in the high seas fishing permit which explained which SPRFMO areas were open to mid-water and bottom trawling.

Rushton said he was only concerned with the areas that were subject to the move-on rule. He maintained there was no talk of open or closed areas until the boat was contacted by the vessel manager on May 22.

Eaton said it was “peculiar” a fisheries observer would not be given the actual permit that applied to the vessel they were observing on.

Rushton said he made a process improvement suggestion after the trip that permits were obtained from the source, rather than copies being made of previous permits.

MPI fishery officer Craig Richardson also took the stand on Wednesday. He said an investigation was launched after the Amaltal Apollo returned to Nelson on June 7, 2018.

The estimated catch of 23 tonnes of alfonsino from the 14 trawls was seized. It was later agreed the fish could be sold and the proceeds of sale withheld.

On Wednesday afternoon, an interview with Richardson and Shuttleworth as part of that investigation was played to the court.

In it, Shuttleworth spoke of being a commercial fisherman of more than 35 years with experience in longlining and trawling.

He had done several trips on the Amaltal Apollo, but the May 2018 trip was his first fishing the Lord Howe Rise.

Shuttleworth said he read the conditions of the high seas fishing permit, but had not checked the co-ordinates in the permit against those entered in the vessel’s sea plotter, which is what he used to navigate when fishing.

Richardson asked if Shuttleworth for an explanation as to why he fished in closed areas.

Shuttleworth said what he had read and been told indicated red boxes with a cross through were “no go areas” that were closed to fishing. He thought red hatch lines, shown at the time, showed VMEs where the move on rule applied.

At a briefing before the trip, Shuttleworth said a previous skipper had confirmed the data on the plotter was up to date and correct.

“I want to get it sorted with the company that we get the right information put on the boats, I don’t want skippers to be trusted with it.

“I’ve pretty much gone off being told the information was correct on the plotter and that is my mistake, I should have checked everything and I didn’t.”

The trial will continue on Thursday.