I got sick of the same old things being argued about here. Some people don't seem to be able to bow out gracefully. But, I for one want any threads about abuse of our fishery, to be in the briny bar - as I think its one of the most important if not the most important things.

Is it just me or do those fines look pathetically small? My god, truckies get more than that for fudge'n their log books! Yes that's a safety issue but its done to deter drivers for driving themselves to death. There needs to be some serious questions asked if that's all you get for outright theft! But hey if the worse you can get for catching 50x the recreational limit is 350hrs p.d. Then i guess in this case the fines "appropriate with regards to previous sentencing" an therefore can't be appealed for being to excessive or unfair to the perpartrator, sometimes our judicial system is a joke!!!!

Lethal wrote: high time they though the book at this family for sure, yes i hope he has his boats confiscated and he should end up in bloody jail for a spell, plus have his license to sell or ever be involved in the fishing industry ever again.. he certainly has a track record of ripping the system off yet the warnings and fines have never stopped him from reoffending...

Alleged illegal fish export business hooked
MARTY SHARPE

Dozens of fisheries compliance officers have this morning swooped on boats and offices around the country in connection with a Hawke's Bay enterprise alleged to have exported fish in an illegal manner designed to deliberately side-step quota limits.

The focus of the swoop was a family-based fishing entity run by the D'Esposito brothers, Nino (Antonino) and Joe (Giancarlo).

This morning 88 Ministry of Primary Industries compliance officers and investigators and New Zealand Police visited sites in the greater Hawke's Bay area, Wellington, Tauranga, Gisborne, Chatham Islands and Christchurch.

The brothers run Hawke's Bay Seafoods, a "vertically integrated" company that holds quotas, exports and imports seafood, and operates vessels, seafood processors, wholesalers and retailers.

The company, based in Ahuriri, Napier, is a major player and was chosen as a site visit by economic development minister Steven Joyce earlier this month when he announced a $200 million regional development fund.

This morning's operation was undertaken by MPI to secure evidence in what the Ministry's director of compliance, Dean Baigent, says was the largest investigation of its kind in many years.

The investigation involves staff from MPI, Customs, Police, Immigration and Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment.

"The investigation involves activity throughout the commercial supply chain - catching, landing, processing and exporting," Baigent said.

He said inquiries indicated large discrepancies between the company's catch records and export documents, with more fish being exported than was being reported as caught.

Export documents showed the company had exported substantial quantities of fresh chilled product over an 18-month period, while catch records show the company has landed considerably less, he said.

The misreported figure was expected to grow with the inclusion of domestic sales that had occurred over the period in question, he said.

"This looks like an example of a company side-stepping the regulations that ensure the sustainability of our fisheries in a very deliberate and calculated manner. This type of behaviour undermines the Quota Management System, puts the fishery at risk and makes it more difficult for legitimate fishers to get their legitimate catch."

The Dominion Post

your onto it Apex Predator,
and when they go to court old convictions are not mentioned either, system suck big time...
this is another reason we had to take a cut in my book but that is another story,
18mths before they could pull the plug makes you wounder just how fast the system works...

The proceeds of crimes act will fix them...They are guilty automatically with this and have to prove their innocence...Which one would imagine will be difficult to do ...Boats,all propertys,cars.bank accounts now all in the hands of the police/courts..

So this pissed me off so much that I emailed the Radiolive reporter this morning and asked why he had only written half the story and not highlighted the history of these maggots.

Well to his credit the reporter got back to me and said he was aware and was working on the bigger story. I might even be a part of this now but regardless, I have given him the local contacts and hope it comes off.

Speaking of the locals I have spoken to a few today and there is some serious momentum building that I hope doesn't fizzle out.

Must admit it felt better do do something rather than just talk about it.

Good on you Kevin,
yes it is high time this crap was seriously dealt to its gone too far too many times,
the system is being totally abused and certainly needs to sorting more quickly than 18mths...
if these guys are aloud to keep their Quota and are still able to operate after this, then we are wasting our time even thinking our fishery will ever get better....  

Done