Companies sentenced over unlawful shellfish movements linked to parasite risk

Wednesday, 10 June 2026

Sollys Freight and Waimana Marine were sentenced by Judge Jo Rielly at Nelson District Court on Thursday. (File photo)

A Marlborough aquaculture company that illegally sent nearly 80 tonnes of mussels and more than 6000 oysters from restricted and protected zones has been fined $24,000.

A Tasman freight company was also fined $15,006 for transporting shellfish from the same restricted area.

The court heard the offending risked spreading a destructive oyster-killing parasite, potentially damaging New Zealand's reputation in a $390 million export industry.

Waimana Marine and Sollys Freight were sentenced in Nelson District Court on Wednesday before Judge David Laurenson.

Golden Bay-based Sollys was sentenced on four charges, while Elaine Bay company Waimana Marine was sentenced on 14, after both pleaded guilty in March to breaches of the Biosecurity Act.

The companies were among four so far prosecuted by the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) over the unlawful movement and supply of shellfish between 2023 and 2024.

The court heard the green-lipped mussels originated from an “infected” zone in the upper South Island known to harbour the oyster-killing parasite Bonamia Ostraea. As such, moving them required a permit and special measures to stop its spread.

Waimana Marine director Simon Pooley at the Havelock Mussel Festival in 2021.

In the past, Bonamia Ostraea had “severely damaged and in some instances entirely decimated oyster fishery areas”, MPI said. There were no proven methods for its eradication once it took hold.

The court heard Sollys transported 339,396kg of live green-lipped mussels from the infected zone to Christchurch-based seafood processor Ikana New Zealand on 35 occasions between 2023 and 2024.

The mussels were supplied by Aroma Aquaculture and Waimana Marine and destined for processing and export.

Waimana Marine arranged 14 movements of shellfish without the required permits, including almost 80,000kg of green-lipped mussels sent to Christchurch.

It also organised the unlawful movement of 2069kg of mussels and 6720 Pacific oysters from the contained zone to Bluff, within the Lower South protected zone.

MPI said no permits had been issued for any of the movements, despite being mandatory and free to obtain.

Merv Solly is the director of Sollys Freight, based in Golden Bay and with yards in Richmond, Blenheim and Christchurch. (File photo)

Judge David Laurenson accepted both company’s offending was not deliberate, but said there was a need for the court’s deterrence and denunciation.

Both directors, Simon Pooley of Waimana Marine and Merv Solly of Sollys Freight, had no previous biosecurity offending and had taken steps to improve compliance, including conducting internal reviews of their systems.

Crown prosecutor Jeremy Cameron, on behalf of MPI, said both cases came down to “system failures”.

Waimana Marine’s offending was considered more serious than Sollys because it included transportation of shellfish into a protected zone in Bluff, he said.

MPI said the Foveaux Strait oyster fishery generated up to $25 million annually and supported about 145 jobs, and was one of the last commercially viable wild flat oyster fisheries in the world.

The flat oyster/tio was considered an important taonga species to local iwi, both in the upper and lower South Island.

New Zealand's green-lipped mussel industry earned $390 million in export revenue in 2023 and was targeting $1 billion by 2035.

“Exports rely heavily on reputational excellence, and that the product they are receiving is lawful, and supports New Zealand’s ‘clean green’ image,” MPI said.

Uncontrolled movement of shellfish from infected areas risked undermining both.

Defence lawyer Sean Brennan said Sollys’ role was limited to transportation and the company had not gained financially from the offending.

Waimana Marine's lawyer Hamish Fletcher said the family-owned business was “deeply remorseful” and “embarrassed”.

The prosecutions form part of a wider MPI investigation.

Exporter Ikana New Zealand was fined $30,000 in Christchurch in March, while Aroma Aquaculture was ordered to pay $24,000 in May.

Gary Orr, MPI director of investigations and compliance support, said a Bluff-based licensed fish receiver and wholesaler would be sentenced later this month in the Invercargill District Court on related charges.