Hundreds of dead fish floating in Hauraki Gulf: Moana New Zealand says its vessel may be responsible

Fishing company Moana New Zealand has said one of its contract vessels could be responsible for hundreds of dead fish floating in the sea around Auckland and washing up on the city’s beaches.

A Moana NZ spokeswoman said one of the contract vessels lost power while at sea and what happened was accidental, not deliberate.

“The skipper and his crew had to haul the fish in without winch assistance, at times using a gaff to haul the gear. They split the bag several times to lift the fish over in several loads,” she said.

“They were able to retain the majority of the catch, but unfortunately, some fish escaped the net when the crew were manually pulling the catch on board the vessel

“The skipper was unaware of the amount of loss as he was working on restoring power below deck in the late evening.”

A Moana NZ spokeswoman doesn’t know at this time what caused the power failure onboard the vessel and continue to cooperate with MPI and all involved in the investigation into this unfortunate incident.

One fisherman told the Herald he saw the mass of snapper floating in a Hauraki Gulf marine reserve yesterday, saying birds were “going hard on them” and the smell was “pretty bad”.

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Fisheries New Zealand, as part of the Ministry of Primary Industries, said they had reports of a “large number” of dead snapper floating in the northern Hauraki Gulf, off Omaha Beach.

Fisheries’ acting director for compliance Andrew Espinoza said the cause was not yet known.

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Espinoza did say fishery officers had identified two vessels that were fishing in the area and inquiries were ongoing. He also asked anyone with information about “suspicious fishing activity” to contact them.

He said people should not eat any dead or dying seafood they find for safety reasons.

A dead snapper washed up on the beach after hundreds of fish were seen floating in the Hauraki Gulf, Auckland. Photo / Matt Fairbrother

Fisherman Matt Fairbrother said “it was not nice to see” when he saw the dead fish.

“It’s really ... disappointing. This was yesterday midday, [I] saw hundreds of dead snaps floating in the marine reserve,” Fairbrother said.

“[They were] washed up on the beach as well, the birds were going hard on them. The smell was pretty bad.

“It’s hard to say, but I think [they would have been dead] a couple of days max.”

One of the hundreds of dead fish found floating in the Hauraki Gulf. Photo / Andrew Barker

Fairbrother said he had seen this happen last year, in the Rangitoto Channel.

Espinoza said: “While the cause [of death] is not yet known, fishery officers have taken samples of the dead fish, which were all legal-sized, undamaged and appeared to be in good condition.

“Over the next few days, people can see fish floating or washed up on beaches, particularly Omaha beach.

“If anyone has information about any suspicious fishing activity, we encourage them to report it to us on 0800 4 POACHER (0800 47 62 24).”