Talley's subsidiary found guilty of trawling in conservation area

Wednesday, 9 March 2022

Amaltal Fishing Co and its skipper Charles Shuttleworth were found guilty on a total of 14 charges after Talley’s ship the Amaltal Apollo trawler, photographed at the slipway in Port Nelson,-trawled in a protected area. (File photo)

Convictions for trawling in a protected area of the Tasman Sea should send a strong message to the fishing industry, says the Ministry for Primary Industries.

Judge David Ruth in the Nelson District Court found Talley’s subsidiary Amaltal Fishing Co breached the conditions of its high seas fishing permit when its vessel, Amaltal Apollo, trawled in a protected area.

Both Amaltal Fishing Co and the then-master of the vessel, Charles Shuttleworth, were found guilty on 14 charges. A date has not yet been set for sentencing.

In 2018 the ship was on the Lord Howe Rise in the Tasman Sea. The Amaltal Apollo was found to have trawled in an area protected by an inter-governmental conservation body, the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation.

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The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) prosecuted the case.

Talley’s chief executive Tony Hazlett said since the breaches in 2018, the company had invested significantly in additional electronic monitoring systems for its fishing vessels.

MPI national manager of fisheries compliance Niamh Murphy said in a statement on Wednesday that it expected fishing companies and their skippers to be “fully aware of all areas closed to fishing”.

She said protecting the area trawled by the Amaltal Apollo was part of New Zealand’s international obligations to protect vulnerable marine ecosystems.

“This judgment should send a strong message that skippers and the companies they work for need to be diligent and ensure these types of breaches don’t occur. This includes having the correct systems in place.

“The rules are there for a reason. We expect fishing companies and skippers to know and understand their obligations before they go to sea.”

Murphy said commercial fishers had to put systems in place to avoid breaches, and if MPI found any evidence of a breach it would investigate. She encouraged both industry operators and non-commercial fishers to report any suspected illegal activity to the MPI hotline, 0800 4 POACHER, 0800 4 76224.

Talley's chief executive Tony Hazlett said since the offending in 2018, Amaltal had invested “significantly” in additional electronic monitoring systems for its fishing vessels and it would continue to deliver training and tools to operate vessels according to the law.

Hazlett said the breaches were a result of Shuttleworth making a mistake, as the area he trawled had at the time only recently been closed to fishing, and an MPI observer had been aboard the Amaltal Apollo at the time who was also unaware of its closure.

“The company’s liability arises from the company being vicariously and strictly liable for the activities of the captain, notwithstanding it had no knowledge of nor took any part in the offending,” he said.

“Amaltal didn’t direct, consent, agree or direct the captain to fish in a closed area. The captain made an error, which the company was unaware of at the time. As soon as it was known, we acted immediately. The captain has also acknowledged and did not try to conceal his errors, and he and the company has co-operated fully with MPI in their investigation into the incident.”

Hazlett said Amaltal took marine sustainability very seriously and did not condone illegal fishing in any circumstances.