PM moves on fishing crews

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has asked for legal advice on whether she can stop foreign fishing vessels changing crews in New Zealand.

In the past month, New Zealand has had to deal with two foreign-flagged fishing boats that, after fishing on the high seas, returned to port for a crew change with positive cases of Covid-19 onboard.

On both occasions, the more infectious Delta variant was found among the positive cases.

Fifteen crew members of the Viking Bay are still in quarantine at a Wellington MIQ facility while 13 crew members of the Playa Zahara are in quarantine in Christchurch.

Ardern said yesterday that she had asked Crown Law, the Government’s legal advisers, to look into whether she could stop foreign vessels, with no connection to New Zealand, from changing crew at the country’s ports.

‘‘I see no need for us to take unnecessary risk for a foreign vessel, where there is no benefit to New Zealand whatsoever.’’

Ardern said she asked for the advice about a week ago and was still waiting for it.

A spokeswoman for Crown Law said it was not able to comment.

Since August last year, 1169 crew members have used a New Zealand port to board a foreign vessel, according to Customs, though this number includes both fishing ships and cargo ships. These crew members were spread across 157 different ships.

Foreign fishing crews do not need to get an exemption to come to New Zealand. Instead, they have to comply with the ‘‘Maritime Border Order’’.

A Ministry of Health spokeswoman said the order dictated that foreign fishing vessels could only enter New Zealand to unload their catch, reprovision, refuel or perform a crew change.

Crew members joining a vessel can be flown into the country and do not have to go through MIQ if their vessel was departing ‘‘as soon as is reasonably practicable’’, the spokeswoman said.

If the crew members arrives before the vessel is set to depart, they can spend time in a ‘‘short-stay’’ MIQ room before being driven to their vessel by MIQ staff.

‘‘During transportation . . . all crew and the driver, from an MIQ-approved transport provider, wear PPE,’’ an MIQ spokesman said.

The rules are different for ships that operate within Pacific or New Zealand waters. Those crew members must undergo 14 days of managed isolation before boarding their ships.

New Zealand is presently hosting two foreign fishing vessels that had Covid-19 onboard.

These crews do not legally have to pay for quarantine, but officials have said they were talking with fishing companies about paying a contribution.