The fishing vessel Jeanette during an earlier, unrelated investigation. The boat is now under lock and key after it was forfeited from owner Tony Phillipson who was convicted in the Nelson District Court today. Photo / John Cowpland
The fishing vessel Jeanette during an earlier, unrelated investigation. The boat is now under lock and key after it was forfeited from owner Tony Phillipson who was convicted in the Nelson District Court today. Photo / John Cowpland
A fisherman who removed essential position monitoring equipment from his boat and then tried to hide it in a bag beneath the sea has been convicted in a case that is the first of its kind in the country.
Tony Peter Phillipson has also had his boat forfeited after breaching rules designed to help monitor and protect New Zealand fisheries.
Judge Tony Zohrab said in the Nelson District Court today that little of what Phillipson had done made any sense, but his explanation at the time “smelled like fish left in the hold for a couple of weeks”, and was in the realm of “gross dishonesty”.
On a morning in April this year, Phillipson steamed out of Port Tarakohe in Golden Bay in his boat the Jeanette, bound for the Cook Strait on a commercial fishing trip.
Tony Phillipson left Golden Bay in his fishing boat bound for Cook Strait. Today he was convicted on fisheries charges. Photo / Tracy Neal
On board was a crew member, and electronic equipment he was legally required to have for position monitoring and catch reporting.
The geospatial position reporting (GPR) device of the type Phillipson had on top of his boat, a Solar VMS, transmitted the vessel’s location to the Ministry for Primary Industries at regular intervals to verify the location of fishing activity.
It’s meant to operate continuously while a vessel is fishing to actively monitor fishing activity in closed areas such as marine reserves, and benthic protected areas.
For reasons unclear, once Phillipson reached a bay in the outer Marlborough Sounds, he removed the GPR device from the vessel’s cabin roof and placed it in waterproof plastic bags, which he then tied to two fishing buoys with a rope and anchor and put the device into the sea.
He then left the area for three days but his whereabouts were unknown, said prosecutor MPI.
He then returned to Waitui Bay, where he had hidden the GPR device intending to retrieve it, but he couldn’t find it.
Phillipson phoned fisheries administration and support company FishServe, reported the GPR unit stolen and sought permission to continue fishing, which was granted.
He did three bottom trawls on May 1 and caught 5948 kilograms of fish before returning to Port Nelson with $11,875 worth of fish.
His GPR device was found by a member of the public and handed to MPI along with the anchor, rope and buoys it was attached to.
Phillipson has now been fined $20,000 and his boat placed under lock and key by the Ministry of Primary Industries, pending an application for relief against today’s forfeiture.
He had earlier admitted a charge under the Fisheries Act of making a false statement, and charges under Fisheries Regulations of having removed a GPR device that was required to be carried and used on a fishing vessel, and failing to carry and operate a geospatial position reporting device according to the rules.
The charges carried a combined maximum total of close to half a million dollars in fines.
Judge Zohrab said the “deliberate and pre-meditated action” was the first case before the courts involving a breach of the GPR rules.
“This was a calculated decision to remove the device and carry on the deception by lying.”
Phillipson explained that he had wanted to go to Picton to a memorial site of a family member and hadn’t wanted to go there with fish on board, but Judge Zohrab said even if that were the case, there was no need for him to have removed the device.
“He could have done the tiki tour with the device on,” he said.
Phillipson’s lawyer, Honor Lanham said he acknowledged it was “an act of stupidity” but there was no evidence that he had carried out any illegal fishing in the time the device had been removed.
Phillipson said tearfully outside court that this latest conviction - the first in 10 years following a list of previous convictions - was “probably the end of him”.
The 49-year-old sole director of the Alfred Fishing Company was supported in court by a large group of family and friends.
MPI said in its summary of facts that the management of commercial fish stocks relied significantly on accurate and timely reporting of commercial fishing catch and effort. The near real-time reporting of geospatial position information was an important part of the verification of commercial fishers’ catch reporting data.
“This is particularly true for smaller commercial fishing vessels, such as the Jeanette where independent fisheries observer coverage is difficult to obtain.”
Judge Zohrab said in fining Phillipson it had to be “one that bites” and served as a deterrent, but one that wouldn’t bring about an end to his fishing business.
He was fined $16,000 for the charges laid under the fisheries regulations and $4000 for the breach under the Fisheries Act.
Tracy Neal is a Nelson-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She was previously RNZ’s regional reporter in Nelson-Marlborough and has covered general news, including court and local government for the Nelson Mail.
