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Westfleet Fishing Ltd. ordered to forfeit trawler

The fishing company Westfleet Fishing Ltd. has been ordered to forfeit the 'Tasman Viking' after it failed to properly identify, assess and report vulnerable bamboo coral in its catch. At the Nelson District Court on June 13, 2023, the Westfleet Fishing Ltd. pleaded guilty to charges of contravening a condition of a high seas permit and failing to report the coral capture. Judge David Ruth ordered the forfeiture of the trawler to the Crown, and fined the company $56,250. The vessel’s skipper and first mate were separately fined a total of $13,500 on other charges. The charges related to an incident on Oct 21, 2020, in the Lord Howe Rise area. A trawl net on the 'Tasman Viking' came on board with bamboo coral. Some of the coral fell on the deck, and a small portion fell into the pound. The crew did not remove the coral from the net for identification and weighing before it was deployed again, and the remaining coral on deck was swept overboard by the net when it was reshot, which meant the Fisheries New Zealand observers on board were unable to determine with accuracy the amount of coral that had been caught, and could not know if the Vulnerable Marine Ecosystem (VME) threshold was met or exceeded. One of the observers weighed the small quantity of coral that remained at 2,79 kg.