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Ministry of Primary Industries v Kereopa [2018] NZDC 5670

Published 23 May 2019

Taking excess fish — taking undersized fish — taking fish in soft shell stage — Fisheries Act 1996, ss 232(1), 252(5). The defendants were jointly charged with taking excess rock lobsters; taking undersized rock lobsters; and taking rock lobsters in the soft shell stage. The prosecution alleged that that the defendants had taken 16 lobsters (the daily limit being six per person), six of them being undersized and two of those in the soft shell stage. The defendants argued that in fact the lobsters were not undersized and were not in the soft shell stage. Two fisheries officers had stopped the defendants as they and a third person were leaving a boat ramp area. They found the legal lobsters, and the first defendant advised the officers that all three of them had been diving and there was no more seafood in the boat. The officers then found another seven lobsters in a separate bag. The officers measured the lobsters and found that six of them were undersized and two were soft shell. Both defendants suggested that it was the responsibility of the third person, who was not called to give evidence, to keep track of how many lobsters they caught and whether they were of legal size. The Court found the first defendant an unimpressive witness, calling his evidence inconsistent, implausible and disingenuous, while the evidence of the second defendant was "replete with inconsistencies". By contrast the fisheries officers were credible witnesses. The Court accepted the prosecution's arguments that the lobsters were undersized and in the soft shell stage. Under the Fisheries Act it was up to the defendants to ensure that their catch was legal, so they could not shift the responsibility for doing so to the third person. The Court found all three charges proved against both defendants. Judgment Date: 9 May 2018.