The factory trawler Atria - now tied up at Lyttelton - may be subject to a forfeiture bid next month after sudden guilty pleas in a long-running fisheries trial.
The guilty pleas came today, after the Ministry of Fisheries closed its case in a fish dumping trial that began last July.
Christchurch District Court Judge Michael Crosbie ruled that there was a case to answer on all charges against the three Polish crew members who have been on trial.
There was then a flurry of negotiations, chambers meetings with the judge, agreements settled over laptop computers - and six guilty pleas in the afternoon session.
Judge Crosbie set aside three days from March 9 to hear submissions "on special circumstances and issues relating to forfeiture, costs, and sentencing generally".
He will not record convictions until then, even though the crewmen have entered their guilty pleas today.
The Atria is owned by Dalmar Fishing, a company that is run out of Poland, although the vessel is registered in Malta. It is a 95m stern trawler with a crew of 60.
The trial related to trawling in the hoki grounds of the Chatham Rise from May to July 2007. It began on July 23 last year and sat for six weeks, before adjourning to last week when there was evidence from one last ministry witness and then legal submissions.
The master of the vessel, Josef Eugeniusz Popowicz, admitted omitting to record fishing return information, and two charges of dumping fish at sea.
The ship's factory manager, Wlodmzimierz Pierzchlinski, pleaded guilty to two fish dumping charges, and the foreman, Janusz Miroslaw Josefiak, admitted one dumping charge.
Mike Sullivan, of Ocean Law in Nelson, appeared for the accused.
Chris Lange and Grant Fletcher appeared for the ministry. Evidence was called by the ministry from more than 30 witnesses, and it had to be translated to or from Polish.
When the case began, the ministry described it as "a classic over-fishing scenario".
It said that more fish was caught than the factory ship could handle because hoki had to be processed quickly to maintain its quality.
When it spoiled it was dumped over the side of the ship and more fish was caught - a practice which meant that actual catches could be over the quota limits.
The trawler could then process fresher, firmer, more valuable fish that had just been caught.
The Atria's factory operation involved sorting the fish for processing into fillets or mince, or sorting it for fish meal, and the crown said the vessel's system had a third option of returning it to the sea unused.
Crew members took film of the dumping on their cellphones and later approached a ministry observer on the ship to talk about the situation and provided the video.
