Nine foreign charter fishing vessels have so far opted not to fish in New Zealand waters rather than meet new rules requiring them to re-flag to New Zealand under new rules which kick in today.

The Government changed the rules for foreign-owned vessels chartered to fish in New Zealand after evidence about ill-treatment and slave-like conditions faced by workers on some vessels.

Those changes include a requirement for foreign vessels to be flagged to New Zealand while in its waters to ensure New Zealand had jurisdiction over areas such as employment and health and safety laws.

Minister for Primary Industries Nathan Guy said so far nine vessels had re-flagged and three were in the process of doing so and could not fish in New Zealand waters until then.

A further nine had decided not to fish in our waters.

The re-flagged ships are from Japan, Korea, Ukraine and the Commonwealth of Dominica.