Taiwanese master fined $ll00

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34130, 17 April 1976, Page 3

Taiwanese master fined $ll00

(.\civ Zealand Press Association) NEW PLYMOUTH, April 16. The master of the Taiwanese fishing vessel Kim \ Nan. \\ eng Ngan. aged 31. was com icted on Thursday on charges of fishing within New Zealand waters and * failing to comply with the requirements of a fisheries i officer on March 30. He was fined $lOOO and $lOO.

In an oral decision in] the Magistrate’s Court,l Mr I). B. Pain. S.M.. said), he felt that “consider-] able responsibility must] rest with the employer for allowing the vessel, which was ill equipped] and whose crew showed] some inadequacy, to un-f dertake the venture.” j The defendant had been; capan'.e of bringing the Kin Xan from Taiwan to New] Zealand, the Magistrate said,! and he could not believe the defendant had such little] unde; standing of nautical] matters, or was as bereft of intelligence as his conduct.! explanations and evidence] were apparently designed to indicate “I cannot help but have] considerable doubt about the] veracity of his evidence,”! the Magistrate said. Notwithstanding this, the defendant had shown in-1 competence and an apparent lack of preparation on his] and his employer's parts. The vessel was sailing in] international waters, and the defendant said he did not; know the international code ol flags. ”He also says that when] he saw the Taupo 50 metres] away, he thought it was a fishing boat.” The Magistrate said it; seemed incredible and! difficult to accept that a] person entrusted with this! important command had, only the maps and charts found by the fisheries officers. It was clear these charts were inadequate, and, when taxed on how he found his way, the defendant had 1 given the "astounding answer” that he just followed others in the fleet of squid boats. Ne'ther the defendant nor

the crew had any knowledge of electrical matters, nor knew how to fix the radar, which had broken down. The vessel arrived last December. and in 100 days caught 80 tons of squid.

This averaged about a ton ah day, and evidence showed | that a normal catch would] ibe eight to 10 tons a day. I In the latter days of| t March the vessel was fishing] , off the Taranaki coast. It! 1 iwas not under power fromp at least March 27 until the]' morning of March 30. ! I It was drifting at thej‘ mercy of the wind and tide,] 1 but was stabilised to some < degree by the sea anchor. ] 1 , The defendant said he] ’fixed his position about noon’ ]on March 27 and again on] 1 I March 28. ] ] ”1 am at a loss to known | how the fixes were made] with such precision, with] | degrees and minutes for lati-i ‘tude and longitude, when , ]the defendant said he was;] ’not using any instruments,”]■ ’said the Magistrate. • It was clear that the vessel had been fishing inside] I the limit. There were two! |positional fixes by naval personnel which put the Kin ] Nan inside the fishing limit] and he accepted they were laccurate. ] Several facts clearly I .pointed to the defendant’s] awareness of the direction Ito stop and accompany the] Taupo to Port Taranaki. ] The first was the remark I of an English-speaking crew- ] : man on the Kin Nan —I ’“Sorry, it’s all a mistake, we Igo home now.” This carried! .the inference of knowledge] that the vessel was doing' something wrong. I “It may well be that what] lone of the Navy officers said was correct — that the! ’Kin Nan's captain elected to] ’head for the open sea rather) ■than port in an effort to] javoid apprehension.” The vessel went 50 miles] out. and ignored signals and i shots to stop. The defend- ] ant’s explanation that he 'thought the shots were de-1 signed to make the Kin Nan] ■go faster was incredible. I