Charges laid over records ofldna catch

The defence lawyer for a Southland fishing

company on trial for allegedly making misleading statements, says the law is not clear about where and wh en shellfish can be processed.

Cando Fishing, registered in Gore,and company director Campbell McManaway are defending six respective Fisheries Act charges alleging they made a mislea ding statement by recor ding the kina as green (whole) when it had been processed.

The company and director are codefendants in a judge-alonet rial before Judge Russell Walker in the Invercargill District Court, which began on Monday.

The charges relate to a commercial fJShing trip on the boat San Nicholas to Dusky Sound in Juneand July 2013.

The company has also pleaded not guilty being a commercial fisher , possessing kina and failure to ensure it rema in

unshelled until they were delivered to the frrst point of sale after being t aken or t o processing fa ctor y, wh ich carr ies a maximum

penalty of a $100,00J fine. Fisheries officer Gr egory Forbes, who was called a s a prosecution witness, said there were pages missing from the com

pany's fJShing records when it got back to Blufffrom Dusky Sound.

During cross-examination, the company's defence lawyer Mike Sullivan put it

Forbes that the charges h ad been laid because h e had "moved the line" in regard to where Cando Fishing was considered a

commercial fisher a nd where it was consider ed a licensed fJSh receiver.

Forbes r esponded that the compan y's records were false.

"The [licensed fish receiver] is not [a licensed fish receiver] in that location," Forbes said.

Ca ndo Fishing is authorised as a licensed fish r eceiver at Bluff a nd Picton, the court was t old.

McManaway's lawyer later asked Forbes if an on-board fish processing factor y would have freezers and if staff would

be wear ing overalls a nd gumboot s, which Forbes agreed with.

McManaway's recorded interview Forbes in 2013 was played in court.

The fisherma n said he was stepping back from th e industry because the bureaucrats had made it too hard.

The trip from Bluff t o Dusky Sound was 20 hours, so the kina had to be processed sea, he said.

McManaway said he h ad spent $100,000 on th e boat's processing fa ctory a nd helipad.

McManawayleft sch ool at15 year s of age t o fJSh with his father, bought a boat at 23 and had been fJShing for decades, he said. with