Maritime NZ investigating beached fishing vessel

Waikato Regional Council reported the vessel beached on the evening of August 11.

A fishing vessel beached in the Coromandel more than a week ago is under investigation.

Maritime New Zealand confirmed it is still investigating the incident after Waikato Regional Council reported the vessel grounded at Fletcher Bay on the northern tip of the Coromandel Peninsula on the evening of August 11.

The vessel has since been re-floated.

A Maritime NZ spokesman said investigators had been looking into the grounding and talking to the operator.

“We will assess all the information gathered, then decide what, if any, further action to take.”

Waikato Regional Council reported on August 12 that the vessel beached after taking on water. The skipper and crew were uninjured.

The council’s regional on-scene commander liaised throughout the day with the skipper and salvors to ensure mitigations were in place to protect the environment from any spill while the 15m boat was being recovered.

Its maritime services team had also been at the scene to assess the situation.

The boat was beached at Fletcher Bay near the northern tip of the Coromandel Peninsula.

Up to 2500 litres of marine diesel and 80 litres of hydraulic fluid were on board the boat, with salvors arranging for a contractor to pump it from the tanks on August 12.

The council reported that no fuel had escaped into the environment.

Salvors were planning to make temporary repairs to the hull, then re-float the boat on a high tide and tow it to Leigh, north of Auckland for repairs. The council later confirmed this was under way.

Its maritime services team had been back at the site of the beaching and found no evidence of any spill or discharge of marine diesel or impacts to the environment.