Mussel farmer fined $24,000 for illegally supplying exporter

Wednesday, 13 May 2026

A Canterbury aquaculture business that illegally supplied hundreds of thousands of mussels to an exporter from a restricted area has been fined $24,000.

Mussel farming and processing company Aroma Aquaculture Ltd was sentenced on Wednesday in the Christchurch District Court after admitting a charge brought by the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) under the Biosecurity Act.

The green-lipped mussels came from an “infected” zone in the upper South Island which harbour an oyster-killing parasite.

“The movement of the shellfish was in breach of movement controls in place to prevent the spread of (the parasite) bonamia ostreae,” said MPI’s acting director of investigations and compliance support, Aleshea Allen.

The company is directed by father and son Bernardus Winters and Ben Winters and operates in the Marlborough Sounds and Canterbury.

Earlier court evidence outlined how Aroma Aquaculture was paid $500,000 to move its product to a Christchurch factory during 2024. It did not have a permit for moving the mussels, which is one of the requirements under the regulations for the zone.

“This company supplied 27 consignments totalling about 259,000kg of live green-lipped mussels to the licensed fish receiver and exporter Ikana New Zealand Limited,” Allen said.

Ikana New Zealand Limited did not have a permit to receive the shellfish and was fined $30,000 in March for its part in the offending.

Ikana New Zealand sends seafood around the globe including to the United States and Asia. Its offence included receiving mussels from another shellfish provider, Waimana Marine.

Allen said the parasite has had “a significant effect on the flat-oyster fishery, and we all need to do our part to prevent it from spreading”.

“The movement controls are well understood by industry and have been in place across areas of the South Island since 2015,” she said.