Police meet fishing crew involved in incident at sea

Members of Tauranga Police and the Western Bay of Plenty's Armed Offenders Squad were deployed to meet a fishing vessel at Dive Crescent, Tauranga, this morning following reports of a serious fight on board a fishing vessel out at sea in the early hours of this morning.

The Area Tactical Response Manager, Inspector Karl Wright-St Clair, says Police received reports at approximately 3:30am this morning about a serious fight that had taken place on a fishing vessel.

"As a result of the fight, the captain of the ship was transferred to a second fishing vessel, while another crew member brought the first vessel back to the Port of Tauranga.

"Communications between Police and the fishing vessels was difficult due to the location of the fishing vessels.

"We were not able to confirm many of the details around the incident, but the basic information received was enough to warrant Police deploying armed Police staff to meet the vessel.

"He was apprehended by Police without incident when he arrived at port.

"With any incident like this we undertake a comprehensive risk assessment to determine the potential risk to Police staff, alleged offenders or members of the public, as we did in this case."

Inspector Wright-St Clair says a 32 year old man has been taken into custody and at this stage has been charged with breach of bail. He says Police staff will be speaking to the other man involved today.