Independent Fisheries

[5] Shadbolt House, once owned by the Lyttelton Port Company, and acquired by Independent Fisheries in the 1990s, was also damaged in the Christchurch earthquake and was vacated in 2011.

Independent Fisheries tried to fix the building, but its age, having been built in 1959, made it cost prohibitive to repair; demolition began in October 2012, with the expectation that it would take a month.

[2] Due to a work shortage, three of the company's vessels sat in the port of Lyttelton for months starting in August 2020.

[12] In September 2017, Independent Fisheries was forced to dump 30,000 kg (66,000 lb) of southern blue whiting to save a ship.

This incident later led to charges in May 2019 of making a false or misleading statement in records under the Fisheries Act, and failing to declare their 30,000 kg loss of fish.

The judge said that "The captain was faced with a real and potentially life-threatening event when the broken trawl warp (towing line) became entangled around the propeller of the ship", and that the company had no intention of being deceitful.