Some New Zealand Ministry of Fisheries officers have spent the last few days aboard the fishing vessel Oyang 75 in the city of Dunedin honing their managing skills to more effectively direct the country’s quota management system. The event has renewed controversy over the role charter vessels play in NZ.
The NZD 13 million- (USD 10.3 million) Korean vessel Oyang 75 is chartered by Christchurch-based company Southern Storm Fishing and sailed to New Zealand to replace the Oyang 70, which sank mysteriously off the South Island in August 2010, killing six crew members. The modern trawler measures 68 m and is waiting in port until its next fishing trip.
Russell Barron, Southern Storm Fishing vessel manager, said the NZ Ministry was able to send four fishery officers to the Oyang 75 for training in fish and packaging assessment, weighing and recording of fish samples and other reporting requirements.
The vessel is one of the best-equipped charter boats based in Dunedin, and the Ministry chose this vessel because it was suitable to host such training. Barron said that Southern Storm Fishing was glad to help the Ministry in sharpening the skills of its fishery officers.
But NZ’s Maritime Union claims the mostly Asian crews aboard such boats are treated and paid badly, reports ONE News.
"Just because they've got a new vessel, that doesn't really impress us that much," Maritime Union spokesperson Victor Billot stated. "They had to get a new vessel because the last one sank in very dubious circumstances."
Barron defended his company.
“There is a false perception that foreign charter vessels operating in New Zealand’s deep-sea fishery are cloak and dagger and do not adhere to maritime safety, fishery management or employment legislation, but in Southern Storm’s case that could not be further from the truth,” he asserted.
The firm invited news media on board the Oyang 75 this week to get a personal view of the crew’s working and living conditions.
According to the Ministry of Fisheries, all crew aboard the firm’s vessels are paid more than the New Zealand minimum wage and receive cash advances and other payments while on board. In addition, Southern Storm complies with the country’s Code of Practice on Foreign Fishing Crew.
The Oyang 75 departs this week on a 35-day squid-fishing in the sub-Antarctic waters in New Zealand’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). An observer with the Ministry of Fisheries will tag along.