Alongside at an upper harbour berth in Dunedin, Melilla 203 is a sister ship to Melilla 201, the latter having been seized in May 2013, its officers successfully prosecuted for illegal fish dumping before it left Dunedin in January, bound for an Asian scrapyard.
Melilla 203 arrived in Dunedin a month before 201's arrival and this month 203 was seized under a High Court order, by creditor United Fisheries, in Christchurch.
The warrant to seize Melilla 203 was executed on September 4 in Dunedin, the case file including an affidavit from United Fisheries chief executive Andre Kotzikas and 28 others as plaintiffs, claiming no money had been paid from an earlier judgement.
United had chartered Melilla 203 from its owners, Tae Jin Fisheries Co Ltd, of Busan, Korea.
Mr Kotzikas was contacted this week and confirmed the High Court had established the debt and the next step was an application to the High Court to have the vessel sold, he said.
He declined to reveal how much was owed to United Fisheries and how the debt came about, other than ''in the usual course of business''.
Mr Kotzikas expected the court process and eventual sale to take ''several months''.
United Fisheries has its own quota, covering most of the main commercial species of New Zealand.
It has company owned and operated fishing vessels, and also chartered deep-sea factory trawlers.
In 2008, Melilla vessels had been fishing in New Zealand under charter to Tauranga-based Trans Pacific Fishing Ltd and were owned by Dae Hyun Agriculture and Fisheries Co Ltd, of Korea.
In October 2008, the vessels' captains and a shore-based manager were convicted of illegal fishing, having caught fish in one area but reported them as caught elsewhere.
The vessels were forfeited to the Crown and a fine of $360,000 levied for illegal fishing and the owners had to pay a $300,000 redemption fee to get them back.
Both Trans Pacific Fishing Ltd and Dae Hyun Agriculture and Fisheries Co Ltd went into liquidation and the ships were sold.
