Application for relief from forfeiture — fisheries — MPI — manifest injustice — redemption payment — Fisheries Act 1996, ss 8, 232 & 256. The applicant company was convicted and sentenced to pay a fine of $6,000, having pleaded guilty to one charge under s 232 of the Fisheries Act 1996 (the Act) for possessing 483kg of unrecorded rock lobster. The sentence included a forfeiture order for the fishing vessel and the proceeds of the rock lobster sale, from which the applicant sought relief on the basis of manifest injustice. MPI opposed the application for the rock lobster proceeds but accepted the vessel was likely to be returned; a redemption payment of $10,000 was sought. Subsection 256(6) of the Act requires the Court to determine three matters: the value of the forfeit property; the nature, extent, and if possible, the value of the applicant’s interest in the property; the cost to MPI of the prosecution of the offence(s) that resulted in the forfeiture and the seizure. Once the Judge was satisfied that the applicant satisfied the criteria (the vessel was valued at $60,000 and the rock lobster at $24,130, with the applicant having a 100 per cent legal and equitable ownership in both), the Judge considered the further criteria under s 256(7). The Judge held that the forfeiture of the vessel would cause manifest injustice to the applicant and granted the application with a $6,000 redemption payment, but declined the application relating to the rock lobster proceeds. Judgment Date: 12 February 2019.