Tag Archives: Greymouth

Greymouth fishing company Westfleet loses multi-million dollar trawler for coral weighing ‘less than half a pound of butter’

A deep sea fishing company has lost its multi-million dollar trawler to the Crown in a case described by a judge as a “cavalier approach to the whole area of compliance”. Greymouth-based Westfleet Fishing Limited was sentenced in the Nelson District Court today on a charge of breaching a condition of a high seas permit and a representative charge of failing to provide a Non-Fish Protected Species (NFPS) Report. Along with losing its trawler Westfleet was also convicted and fined $56,250. Former skipper Stephen John Smith was separately convicted and fined $7500 for contravening a condition of a high seas permit, while first mate Nicholas Taikato was convicted and fined $6000 on a representative charge of failing to provide an NFPS report. >click to read< 09:10

UPDATED: One Fisherman Survives, Two missing – Greymouth boat Wendy J sank on southern West Coast

The commercial fishing boat which sank on the rugged coast of South Westland ran aground on the rocky shore after becoming entangled in a rope. Two men are missing from the Greymouth-based Wendy J after it got into trouble near Jackson Bay on Thursday night. The alarm was raised yesterday morning after a light aircraft spotted wreckage and a life raft on the shore. A survivor, Mark Thomas, was found yesterday near Teer Creek, about 10km southwest around the bouldery coast from Smoothwater Bay, the area where it is the boat sank. Smoothwater Bay is a small cove whose entrance is marked by rocky outcrops. click here to read the story 23:35

West Coast search resumes for two fishermen missing after Wendy J sank – “An improvement in weather conditions has allowed a helicopter to start an aerial search and ground search teams are carrying out a shoreline search,” police said this afternoon. click here to read the story 11:26