Source: NZ Ministry for Primary Industries
A Napier commercial fisher has been placed on 3 months’ community detention and 9 months supervision for dumping fish, not reporting his catch, and failing to follow basic regulations.
Robert Bruce Wigmore (34) was sentenced (2 December 2025) in the Hastings District Court on 6 charges under the Fisheries Act following a successful prosecution by the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI). In addition to 3 months community detention with a curfew from 8pm to 7am, he was also placed on 9 months supervision by the court and must undertake education or counselling as directed by a probations officer.
“The majority of commercial fishers do the right thing. They land and record all of their catch and if their catch exceeds their quota, pay a penalty or source more quota to legally land it,” says Fisheries New Zealand district manager Hawkes Bay Wairarapa, Mike Sutton.
“These rules have been around a long time, and we would expect Mr Wigmore to have known this.”
In September last year, Mr Wigmore fished and caught 162kg of flatfish but did not land and record 31kg of the flatfish, keeping it on board.
During another fishing trip that month he caught 175kg of snapper and 84 kg of this snapper was kept on board and not reported in his landing report. While his vessel, the St Kathryn, drifted offshore he dumped about 84 snapper back into the sea which washed up at Westshore Beach and was reported by a member of the public.
The unlanded fish was discovered during fishery officer inspections of the St Kathryn.
“We’re grateful for the information we get from the public who alerted us to the fish being washed up. We were able to identify the vessel operating in the area because of this,” Mr Sutton says.
“Not declaring or dumping fish threatens the integrity of the Quota Management System which is in place to protect our shared fisheries and keep them sustainable into the future. When we find evidence of deliberate offending, we take action,” says Mike Sutton.
In addition to the fishery offences, Mr Wigmore also failed to follow basic fishing regulations expected of all commercial fishers in that as master of the vessel St Kathryn, he didn’t have his fishing permit on board or his certificate of registration, when inspected.
Fisheries New Zealand encourages people to report any suspected illegal fishing activity to MPI’s 0800 4 POACHER number (0800 476 224).
For further information and general enquiries, call MPI on 0800 008 333 or email info@mpi.govt.nz
For media enquiries, contact the media team on 029 894 0328.
