A Southland seafood company has been fined $39,000 for illegally shifting thousands of live oysters and mussels into the Bluff area — repeatedly, and in full knowledge of the rules.
Fresh is Best NZ Limited was sentenced in the Invercargill District Court today on 13 charges under the Biosecurity Act. The company pleaded guilty to all of them.
MPI director of investigations and compliance support Gary Orr laid out what the company actually did. "Our investigation found Fresh is Best arranged the illegal commercial movement of 6,720 individual live pacific oysters and 2,069kg of live green lipped mussels from the Upper South contained zone to the Lower South protected zone, in breach of the controlled area notice, on 7 occasions."
The risk was real. Bonamia ostreae — a parasite that has already hammered flat oyster populations — is exactly what the controlled area notice exists to keep out of Bluff's protected fishery zone. Moving live shellfish from a contained zone into that area seven times is not an oversight.
"The action taken by Fresh is Best was negligent and a serious breach of the controlled area notice put in place to prevent the spread of the unwanted organism Bonamia ostreae," Orr said.
The movement controls have been in place across parts of the South Island since 2015. Orr was blunt about what's at stake. "Bonamia ostreae has had a significant effect on the flat oyster population, and we all need to do our part to prevent it from spreading and threatening the future of the natural resource and industry. The movement controls are well understood by the industry and have been in place across areas of the south island since 2015."
The MPI investigation began in 2024 after a biosecurity inspector found evidence that consignments of green lipped mussels were being moved illegally by a group of seafood producers, transporters, and processors. Fresh is Best is the last of five companies to be sentenced. Ikana New Zealand Limited, Aroma Aquaculture Limited, Waimana Marine Limited, and Sollys Freight Limited have all previously been dealt with for their roles in the same offending.
No biosecurity incident resulted from the breaches — but Orr made clear that was not the point. "While there is no evidence this offending caused a biosecurity issue on this occasion, we will always take action when we find evidence of the rules being broken."
Anyone with information about suspected illegal activity can contact MPI on 0800 4 POACHER (0800 476 224).