Hoki Boat Seized

After five months of investigation into illegal fishing, one of the biggest Hoki fishing boats in New Zealand waters has been seized in Lyttelton.

The Japanese fishing trawler Chiyo Maru 3 was seized by Ministry of Fisheries staff recently, after allegedly falsifying their catch records.

The boat owners,  Maruha Fishing, could be fined up to $250,000 and in addition may lose the boat and catch.

The Chiyo Maru 3 has processing facilities on board and it is believed around 3000 cartons of Hoki were reported as untrimmed fillets when they should have been reported as trimmed fillets.

According to fisheries compliance officers,  the discrepancy could be as high as a 20 per cent difference, with as much as 38 tonnes of Hoki not declared. This amount of Hoki would be worth around $160,000

The Hoki fishery is one of the largest in New Zealand, with the 2003/04 TAC set at 180,000 tonnes. Hoki quota has been progressively reduced during the past few years, and has been cut by a further 10 per cent for the 2003/04 fishing year as it is under considerable pressure.