Fisheries Act 1996, ss 232, 233, 252; Cases: [2013] NZHC 2493;[2013] DCR 354
In serious cases involving large numbers of fish or shellfish over the daily catch limit, or if you’ve taken excess fish to sell them, the fisheries officials at the Ministry of Primary Industries may decide to use the most serious offence provisions in the Fisheries Act rather than the amateur fishing regulations. The maximum penalties under the Act are much heavier, and include community-based sentences like community work, or jail in the most serious cases.
The MPI may also decide to charge you under a Fisheries Act offence if you’ve got previous convictions for similar kinds of offending.
The most serious penalties apply when you sell fish or shellfish, or get any other benefit, after knowingly gathering them in breach of the fishing laws or after receiving them from someone else who gathered them. You’ll also be guilty of this offence if you didn’t in fact sell the fish or shellfish, but you did intend to sell them. If you were found with more than three times the amateur daily limit the law assumes you intended to sell them. In that case it’s up to you prove otherwise.
Fisheries Act 1996, ss 195, 233, 252
For this offence you can be jailed for up to five years, or fined up to $250,000, or both. Usually your boat or car will also be permanently seized if you used it in committing the offence.
If you plead not guilty, you’ll have the right to choose either a jury trial in the District Court or a trial in front of a District Court judge alone. See the chapter “The criminal courts”, under “Overview of how the criminal courts work”.