KEY POINTS:
The owner of an ill-fated Nelson based fishing boat believed it would be operated safely with an experienced and qualified crew, Nelson District Court was told today.
Warwick John Loader, 35, the owner and director of Crusader Fisheries, is charged with operating the Mi Jay in a manner causing unnecessary danger or risk to others. Maritime New Zealand has also laid a similar charge against his company.
The Mi Jay left Nelson on November 22, 2005, and its two deck hands, Wiremu Tawhiti, 53, and Cedric James, 52, were found dead in the vessel's life raft off the coast of Kaikoura on December 19 after drifting for up to two weeks. The body of skipper Paul Rees and the Mi Jay have never been found.
Loader, 35, told the court yesterday he had asked Mr Rees to report in to Nelson Marine Radio before the Mi Jay left Nelson.
The boat was bound for the Mernoo Bank fishing ground, 80 nautical miles southeast of Kaikoura.
Loader said he then went to work possum monitoring on the West Coast and told Mr Rees he would be away for at least two weeks and out of cellphone contact.
Loader missed a call from Mr Rees on his cellphone the next day, on November 23. He said his ex-partner tried contacting the boat daily from November 30, and when he returned to Nelson on December 5 he learned the vessel had not been heard from.
After attempts to locate the boat, Loader called the Rescue Coordination Centre on the morning of December 6.
It was Mr Rees' first trip as Mi Jay skipper but Loader said he thought the experienced fisherman had a coastal master's ticket to operate a vessel out to 100 miles.
The court has heard Mr Rees only had an inshore skipper's ticket to operate the vessel Waimarie II in Tasman and Golden bays.
Loader said it was Mr Rees' idea to take the Mi Jay bottom long-lining and Mr Rees sourced all the gear to refit the vessel for that, which Loader paid for.
The deal was a 50-50 partnership whereby Mr Rees hired his crew and was to pay them with his half share of the profits.
Loader said Mr Rees took over maintenance and running of the boat seven to 10 days before sailing, although the Mi Jay was always kept in good condition.
The vessel had an emergency locator beacon and new single side band and VHF radios, Loader said.
He told his lawyer Tim Spear that he knew the boat's safe ship management certificate was due to expire on November 30, 2005 and tried unsuccessfully to get an extension on it. However, he said he expected the boat would be back before the certificate ran out.
In closing submissions today, Maritime New Zealand prosecutor Adam Hopkinson said Loader was a hands-on owner, fully involved in the day to day running of the vessel and the preparations for it final voyage, which he could have, at any stage, stopped.
Three issues related to causing unnecessary risk. These were the failure to ensure arrangements had been made for the vessel to report twice daily to marine radio services, the failure to ensure the vessel was adequately crewed and the failure in relation to the expiry of its safe ship management certificate while the Mi Jay was still at sea.
Mr Spear told the court the evidence suggested Loader and through him, the company, firmly believed the Mi Jay would be operated safely. It was seaworthy, well maintained, well equipped and fully stocked. He also believed it was being operated by an experienced, qualified, and skilled skipper with an experienced crew.
Loader was working away from Nelson and out of cellphone range during the time the Mi Jay was at sea. However, he had plenty of evidence that Mr Rees would use the radio and had been told by Loader to report in twice daily to marine radio services.
Nobody knew when the Mi Jay disappeared, although it was "obviously something unexpected and sudden", Mr Spear said. As soon as Loader became aware it had not been reporting in he made his own attempts to locate it before alerting the Rescue Co-ordination Centre which launched a search for it.
Judge John Walker has reserved his written decision to March 30 in order to determine various legal issues.
- NZPA
