A Nelson commercial fisher who failed to continuously operate an electronic monitoring device while fishing, has been fined $34,000.

Regulations require all commercial fishers to carry and use a geospatial positioning device that transmits data to the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) showing a vessel’s location and enabling Fisheries New Zealand to compare the data with the vessel’s catch reports.

Campbell David McManaway (61) was sentenced (18 March) in the Nelson District Court on 2 charges under fisheries regulations following a successful prosecution by MPI.

“All commercial fishing vessels must have their geospatial positioning device on at all times. This is important for keeping our fisheries sustainable because it means we know where people are fishing and it ensures they are complying with fishing activity reporting requirements and staying out of closed areas,” says Fisheries New Zealand district manager Otago/Timaru, Ian Henderson.

When sentencing, Judge AJS Snell considered an aggravating feature of the offending was that Mr McManaway had been warned by a fishery officer that his geospatial position reporting (GPR) was not working, adding that he took a cavalier approach.

The offending occurred when commercial fishing vessel Cando, skippered by Mr McManaway went on a fishing trip, diving for kina between Moeraki and Shag Point.

“A fishery officer contacted Mr McManaway and told him his GPR aboard Cando had not been working during a previous trip and that he must fix this problem before he fished again.”

“Mr McManaway was given opportunities to comply with the requirement to have a working GPR aboard his boat, but failed to do so,” Mr Henderson says.

“Our advice to fishers who are having problems with their electronic monitoring devices is to get in touch with their device provider to get advice on how to get it fixed or contact us if there is a technical fault which can’t be resolved by their provider.”

“The data gathered from electronic monitoring supports good fisheries management,” says Ian Henderson.

People are encouraged to do their part in protecting our fisheries by reporting any suspicious fishing to 0800 4 POACHER (0800 47 62 24) or [email protected]

- Ministry for Primary Industries