{"id":278264,"date":"2026-02-11T06:51:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T06:51:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/278264\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T06:51:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T06:51:09","slug":"fishing-charter-company-fined-60000-for-illegally-serving-crayfish-to-customers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/278264\/","title":{"rendered":"Fishing charter company fined $60,000 for illegally serving crayfish to customers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Crayfish<\/p>\n

\nIt is estimated the crayfish would have cost an estimated $239,610 to $244,500 on the domestic market.
\nPhoto: RNZ \/ Rebekah Parsons-King\n<\/p>\n

A Fiordland amateur fishing charter company has been fined for illegally catching and serving an estimated close to $250,000 worth of crayfish to customers.<\/p>\n

Fiordland Cruises Limited has been sentenced and fined $60,000 on one charge under the Fisheries Act in the Invercargill District Court after being prosecuted by the Ministry for Primary Industries.<\/p>\n

The company will not have to forfeit its vessel, Southern Secret, if it pays a redemption fee of $47,000.<\/p>\n

The ministry received several complaints about charter vessels working in the Fiordland Marine Area including allegations that seafood meals were used to encourage paying passengers to take part.<\/p>\n

An investigation found Fiordland Cruises Limited took and served 1630 crayfish onboard the 162 amateur fishing charters it ran between January and October 2023.<\/p>\n

They would have cost an estimated $239,610 to $244,500 on the domestic market.<\/p>\n

Fisheries New Zealand compliance regional manager south Garreth Jay said all charter operators were given clear information on the rules.<\/p>\n

That included only passengers who caught fish recreationally could have it served to them on the vessel as a commercial business could not catch fish recreationally to serve to customers, he said.<\/p>\n

When fishery officers boarded the Southern Secret, they found that passengers were served crayfish for lunch despite not taking part in fishing, and guests saw crew members clearing cray pots.<\/p>\n

“The skipper told us that along with the chef, they would lift the craypots while passengers watched. This is illegal behaviour from a company that does not hold a commercial fishing licence and is not a Licensed Fish Receiver,” Jay said.<\/p>\n

“We expect those rules to be followed.”<\/p>\n

Sign up for Ng\u0101 Pitopito K\u014drero, a daily newsletter<\/a> curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It is estimated the crayfish would have cost an estimated $239,610 to $244,500 on the domestic market. Photo:…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":278265,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[48,47,111,43,139,69,49,46,44,45],"class_list":{"0":"post-278264","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-audio","9":"tag-current-affairs","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-nz","14":"tag-podcasts","15":"tag-public-radio","16":"tag-radio-new-zealand","17":"tag-rnz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278264\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/278265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}