A Nelson commercial fisher with a history of rule breaches has been fined $34,000 after he failed to continuously operate a device which transmitted his location while fishing.
Under regulation, commercial fishers are required to carry and use geospatial position reporting devices to transmit data to the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) showing a vessel’s location and enabling Fisheries NZ to compare data with the vessel’s catch reports.
61-year-old Campbell McManaway was sentenced in the Nelson District Court on two charges following a successful prosecution by MPI.
The commercial fishing vessel Cando, skippered by McManaway, went on a trip to dive for kina between Moeraki and Shag Point off the Otago coast.
Fisheries NZ Otago/Timaru district manager Ian Henderson said a fishery officer had contacted McManaway to inform him his GPR device was not working during a previous trip and that he must fix it before going out again.
“McManaway was given opportunities to comply with the requirement to have a working GPR aboard his boat, but failed to do so.”
Henderson said all commercial fishing vessels must always have their geospatial positioning device on.
“This is important for keeping our fisheries sustainable because it means we know where people are fishing, and it ensures they are complying with fishing activity reporting requirements and staying out of closed areas.”
Judge AJS Snell considered the fact McManaway had been warned previously that his GPR device was not working as an aggravating feature of the offending, adding that he took a “cavalier approach”.
McManaway has a history of fisheries offences.
In 2013 his company Cando Fishing was fined over the disposal of wastewater from its kina processing plant in Bluff.
In 2022, his company admitted 11 charges relating to exceedingly long set nets, record keeping and illegally selling fish.
The company and McManaway, its director, were fined a combined $52,000 and prohibited from paua fishing for three years.
