Three Polish crewmen left the country a day ahead of massive fines being imposed for fishery breaches they admitted in the Christchurch District Court.
Their vessel, the Atria, is also outside New Zealand waters and Ministry of Fisheries officials will tomorrow try to work out where it is because Judge Michael Crosbie has ordered its forfeiture to the crown.
It is believed the three crewmen, including the skipper, headed home to Poland on a flight out of Auckland on Wednesday night.
They bought their tickets yesterday, soon after Judge Crosbie had indicated he would fine them after hearing two days of evidence and submissions in the sentencing phase of the long-running trial.
Judge Crosbie ordered that the fines totalling $147,500 be paid within 28 days.
He ordered that the fines not be paid out of $300,000 held in the trust account of the Ocean Law firm of Mike Sullivan, of Nelson, who defended the three Polish crewmen.
The Atria is a 95m stern trawler with a crew of 60, owned by Dalmar Fishing, a company run out of Poland, although the vessel is registered in Malta.
Judge Crosbie said Dalmar had made a commitment contractually to pay any crew fines and he expected the company to honour that.
The three had been prosecuted for fish dumping, a process that increases the value of the catch by discarding less acceptable fish, but can lead to exceeding the allowable quota.
They pleaded guilty at the end of the crown case in a trial that went on for months.
The master of the vessel, Josef Eugeniusz Popowicz, admitted omitting to record fish return information, and two charges of dumping fish at sea. He was fined $67,500.
The ship's factory manager Wlodzimierz Pierzchlinski, pleaded guilty to two fish dumping charges and was fined $60,000.
Foreman Janusz Miroslaw Josefiak was fined $20,000 on one fish dumping charge.
Judge Crosbie reserved his decision on costs and indicated the defendants could be faced with a bill of well over $100,000.
"The taxpayer was put to inordinate expense," he said.
"I'm not entirely sure what the defence was."
Judge Crosbie found that at least 12 tonnes of hoki - and likely much more - had been discarded off the South Island's east coast from May to July 2007.
The discarding happened at night and sometimes for a whole shift. Unlawful dumping of fish was one of the most difficult offences to detect and general deterrence was a significant factor.
"Honesty and compliance are expected and are non-negotiable," said Judge Crosbie. There was no real remorse and no meaningful apology.
The ministry's investigations manager for the South Island, John Slaughter, said he was pleased with the result representing a huge amount of work and effort by staff and reflecting the seriousness of the offending.
But he said it was a shame the defendants were not present.
"It did not give us a chance to get final closure in this matter.
"I would hope this sends out a strong message that poor and wasteful fishing practices will not be tolerated and will be dealt with seriously when they are detected," he said.
The final forfeiture of the trawler will take another 30 days to resolve with another hearing set for May 15. The delay will give third parties who may have a claim on the boat to apply to the court for relief against forfeiture.
