A fishing boat skipper has been fined after a vessel ran aground last year when he put it on autopilot and fell asleep.
Tony Phillipson was sentenced under the Maritime Transport Act, after the Mistral ran aground in July 2021, north of the Whanganui Inlet in the Tasman Region.
He put the vessel onto autopilot while in the wheelhouse and fell asleep.
Maritime New Zealand southern compliance manager Domonic Venz said the skipper needed to monitor the vessel's course when on autopilot.
"Sadly this didn’t take place on the Mistral as Phillipson fell asleep."
The vessel could not be salvaged.
In 2004, Phillipson was convicted after his fishing boat Alfred hit a barge in Golden Bay, leading to the death of crewman Michael Bowler.
In 2009, he was fined for using a trawl net in the Separation Point closed area, and in 2006, he was fined for fishing in a marine reserve.
In the Nelson District Court this week he was fined $3000 for operating a ship in a manner which caused unnecessary danger or risk to a person or property.
The judge noted he had lost around $250,000 from uninsured losses.
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