A seafood company is facing the music over underplaying its fishing numbers
A seafood company is facing the music over underplaying its fishing numbers
6 August 2018
Sentencing is under way at the Wellington District Court for Hawke's Bay Seafood's sustained under-reporting of bluenose.
The company's directors - Nino and Joe D'Esposito - and factory manager Marcus D'Esposito, pleaded guilty to 130 charges related to under-reporting of fish, falsifying documents and selling unreported fish.
27 tonnes of bluenose was under-reported by Hawke's Bay Seafood over a 12-month period.
It's estimated the company made 253 thousand dollars from selling this fish, and avoided more than 200 thousand dollars in fees for over-fishing.
Ministry for Primary Industries prosecutor Stephanie Bishop says the significant offending undermines the reputation of the New Zealand fishing industry and has repercussions on the sustainability of the industry.
The sentencing's expected to take three days.
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