Sealord Group has been ordered to forfeit a $24 million vessel and fined $24,000 for bottom trawling in a protected area almost two years ago.
The fishing giant reported the breaches of the fishing regulations and the firm was sentenced in the Nelson District Court today on the basis that it had not deliberately trawled in a protected area, but that it had failed to take reasonable steps to avoid the offending, the Ministry for Primary Industries said.
The convictions resulted from a hoki fishing trip in late October 2018 on Sealord's commercial fishing vessel Ocean Dawn to the Chatham Rise, approximately 200 nautical miles east of Christchurch.
Four of the five trawls took place partially inside the Mid-Chatham Rise benthic protection area and the other was entirely within it.