More than $1m in fines handed down in HB Seafoods case
Hawkes Bay Seafoods, its directors and associated companies, have been fined more than $1 million for mis-reporting catches.
The companies and the three directors – Antonio, Giancarlo, and Marcus Giuseppe D’Esposito – were today fined a total of $1,086,673 at Wellington District Court on charges relating to falsely recording and selling bluenose.
The defendants were also ordered to pay $418,500 in redemption fees for the return of four fishing vessels that were forfeited to the Crown after the offending.
The commercial seafood industry welcomed the successful prosecution, which involved a lengthy trial, saying illegal behaviour will not be tolerated by the industry.
Seafood New Zealand chief executive Tim Pankhurst applauded the prosecution brought by the Ministry for Primary Industries and, at the sentencing, supplied a sworn affidavit to the court condemning the behaviour.
In the affidavit, Pankhurst said there was no place in the industry for those who flout the system.
"We have a very clear code of conduct that says illegal behaviour will not be tolerated.
"This is theft – both from the people of New Zealand and the quota holders.
"Further, the bluenose fishery this theft has been committed in has been in decline and the unrecorded catch left a big gap in attempts to accurately assess the biomass of the fishery.
"As an industry, we are collectively committed to transparency and doing the right thing. The actions by Hawke's Bay Seafoods undermine our efforts to be responsible guardians of the resource."
