A dive charter skipper has posted photos of the alleged longline fishing boat to Facebook. Photo / supplied
A dive charter skipper has posted photos of the alleged longline fishing boat to Facebook. Photo / supplied
An ocean ecologist says he is extremely disappointed after he saw a commercial fishing boat allegedly longline fishing at the Poor Knights Islands Marine Reserve.
Glenn Edney, who also skippers a dive charter boat out of Tutukaka to the Poor Knights, off the east coast of Northland, said he saw the boat fishing around the islands on Tuesday.
The Fisheries Act prohibits longline fishing by commercial boats within 1 nautical mile (1.8km) of the islands. It also prohibits trawling within 3 nautical miles of the islands.
Mr Edney said he was snorkelling with a group of friends near the Riko Riko cave when he noticed the commercial fishing boat.
"It looked a little suspicious, I have to say, because they were pretty close in, and they did appear to be fishing," he said.
"These guys, according to my GPS and according to the other charter boat I called over to verify ... were somewhere around about 600-700m inside the 1 nautical mile exclusion zone for commercial fishing."
Mr Edney has laid a complaint with the Ministry for Primary Industries.
A dive charter skipper posted photos of the alleged longline fishing boat to Facebook. Photo / supplied
He said the Department of Conservation (DoC), which was tasked with taking care of marine reserves across New Zealand, did a "fantastic job".
However, he said DoC had have very few resources, and it was up to other people who used the marine reserve to keep an eye out.
Mr Edney was concerned about an increase in illegal fishing at Poor Knights.
"Unfortunately there have been very few prosecutions. It's difficult to get prosecutions and people are getting frustrated because of that."
Mr Edney has since posted a statement and photos of the alleged longline fishing boat to his Facebook page. The post has been shared over 700 times.
"I'm a little surprised at how viral the Facebook thing has gone - but it really indicates just how passionately people feel about not only the marine reserves, but also about not playing ball and fishing illegally."
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Transport was seeking feedback on whether New Zealand should sign up to two international maritime treaties.
The two treaties sought to improve the poor safety record of the global fishing industry, it said.
The Cape Town Agreement 2012 set international safety standards for the building of new ocean vessels, and the conversion of existing ocean vessels, that were 24m or more in length.
The International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Fishing Vessel Personnel 1995 (STCW-F) set training and certification standards for crew on vessels of the same size.
The ministry's aviation and maritime general manager, Nick Brown, said if New Zealand signed up to the treaties, the fishing industry would benefit.
"A particular benefit would be Maritime New Zealand officers could ensure all foreign fishing vessels visiting New Zealand ports are subject to the high safety standards of the treaties.
"New Zealand law is already largely aligned with the STCW-F Convention and Cape Town Agreement. Only minor changes to New Zealand law would be required to fully reflect the two treaties."
He said the ministry would ensure it had correctly assessed the "potential impact" of the treaties on the industry.
"Signing up to the STCW-F Convention will not bring any additional costs for our fishing industry, as its standards are already largely reflected in domestic law.
"And because New Zealand rarely builds or converts fishing vessels of over 24m in length, the Cape Town Agreement will not bring any significant additional costs for the fishing industry," Mr Brown said.
