Tag Archives: Judge David Ruth
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
Fishing company fined $59,000, vessel seized after illegal bottom trawling
A deep sea fishing company has had its vessel seized and fined $59,000 after illegal bottom trawling by a skipper on his first high sea job. The Amaltal Fishing Company, a subsidiary of Talley’s Group Limited, and skipper Charles Shuttleworth, were convicted and sentenced in Nelson District Court on Thursday on 14 charges of bottom trawling in a protected area. In March, Amaltal and Shuttleworth were found guilty of the charges, which were brought by the Ministry for Primary Industries. Reading from court documents, Judge David Ruth described how Shuttleworth, despite his 40-year experience, had never worked on the high seas. >click to read< 09:10
Illegal trawling trial concludes after 10-month hiatus
Fishing company Amaltal has maintained its position that a vessel found trawling in an unauthorised area was the fault of the skipper and not the company. Amaltal, the deepwater division of Talley’s Group, and skipper Charles Shuttleworth are on trial in the Nelson District Court for allegedly trawling in an area closed to fishing in the Lord Howe Rise in the Tasman Sea – from an incident in May 2018.,, The Amaltal F/V Apollo left Nelson in May 2018, on a trip to fish for orange roughy and alfonsino. During the trip, there was confusion over the area the vessel was fishing in. >click to read< 14:44
