The Chinese tuna vessels Da Yang. (Photo: Stock File)

Chinese fishing firm fined for tuna fishing illegally

NEW ZEALAND
Friday, June 23, 2017, 02:50 (GMT + 9)

Chinese authorities have deregistered and fined a Chinese commercial fishing company approximately NZD 825,000 (USD 596,000) for misreporting bluefin tuna catches and fishing without a licence adjacent to the New Zealand Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

The offenses the firm committed with the vessels Da Yang 15 and Da Yang 16 were detected during Operation Zodiac, a joint Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) and New Zealand Defence Force high seas patrol in July last year.

The vessels were fishing in an area between New Zealand and Fiji when the navy’s offshore patrol vessel, the HMNZS Otago, found them to be in contravention of international law.

Chinese authorities have found that the two vessels were not only unlicensed but that they mis-reported over 100 tonnes of high value southern bluefin tuna as another lower value species.

The MPI stressed that it was the first time that genetic samples of fish had been taken during an ‘at sea’ inspection, with subsequent MPI genetic analysis revealing beyond doubt, that the fish were southern bluefin tuna and not bigeye tuna, as reported by the captain of the Da Yang 16.

For his part, MPI spokesman, Gary Orr, said that as well as the company being fined and deregistered, the company’s vessels have been permanently banned from all deep-sea fishing activities.

"The laws that were broken are developed and implemented by the Western Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) and designed to sustainably manage the Pacific tuna stocks in the high seas adjacent to the New Zealand Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ),” Orr pointed out.

"New Zealand will continue to work with China and others to combat IUU in other regions," he concluded.

 
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