Southland Commercial Fishers And Seller Fined $36,900 For Black-Market Seafood Sales

Thousands of dollars of black-market seafood sales have cost three Southland commercial fishers and another man fines of $36,900.

Commercial fishers Michael Noel Hawke (61), Stuart Teiwi Ryan (48) and Peter George Fletcher (32) were sentenced in the Invercargill District Court having pleaded guilty to multiple charges under the Fisheries Act. Another man, Duncan William Davis (39) was sentenced on two charges under the Fisheries Act for illegally selling a large amount of kina, some pāua and blue cod, following a successful prosecution by the Ministry for Primary Industries.

Mr Hawke was fined $6,000, Mr Ryan $13,000, Mr Fletcher $3,900, and Mr Davis $14,000.

The prosecution was part of a larger 2023 investigation into illegal sales of kina, pāua, crayfish, blue cod and oysters. Fishery Officers gathered evidence of the illegal sales by studying seafood landing records and electronic communications between the fishers, black-market suppliers and potential buyers.

“Our investigation found Mr Hawke sold about 1000 dredge oysters during the 2023 season that were not part of his allowable commercial take. They were his allowable recreational take and should have been in his landing report.

“Based on 2023 prices of $37 a dozen, the oysters were valued at more than $3,000. Bluff is the only wild oyster fishery in the world and selling fish illegally has a serious effect on sustainability,” says Greg Forbes, Fisheries New Zealand District Manager.

The investigation found a deckhand aboard the fishing vessel was also selling his allowable recreational catch.

“Mr Ryan was found to have sold 114 crayfish and about 40 blue cod. Crayfish retails at about $140 a kg and blue cod $75 a kg. Mr Ryan made around $2,250 in illegal earnings.

“Most commercial fishers follow the rules because they want their fishery to remain sustainable into the future – black-market sales of recreational catch is a slap in the face to the majority of commercial fishers who do the right thing.”

Electronic evidence found Mr Davis, who is not a commercial fisher, sold seafood including up to 400 punnets of kina roe, some pāua and blue cod on the black market he had either caught, or bought from Mr Ryan to resell.

“This was up to $5000 of kina that was sold illegally and finfish valued at about $2000. This was deliberate and the motivation was simply to make money.”

Meanwhile, Fishery Officers found the third commercial fisher, Mr Fletcher, sold about 200 dredge oysters illegally on about six occasions.

“None of these fishers held permits allowing them to sell fish, nor were they Licensed Fish Receivers or fish farmers. When we find evidence of deliberate illegal sales of seafood – we will take action.

“Poachers steal from everyone because the shared resources belong to all New Zealanders. Their behaviour also undermines the Quota Management System and our reputation for sustainable kaimoana,” Mr Forbes says.

MPI encourages people to report suspected illegal activity through the ministry's 0800 4 POACHER number (0800 476 224)

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