Greenpeace, which is waging a frontline campaign against deep sea trawling, in 2004 gathered at the orange roughy management offices in Nelson to demonstrate their concern.
Now a year down the track, one of New Zealand's leading marine biologists, Dr Steve O'Shea, has added his voice to the cause.
"Bottom trawling is the most barbaric practise we have ever invented to catch fish," says O'Shea.
Greenpeace's war of words on bottom trawlers is starting to turn ugly.
"We must outlaw these weapons of mass destruction now, before it is too late," says O'Shea.
O'Shea has had a "gutsful" of the NZ fishing industry, saying he thinks they are "incredibly sick".
This outspoken marine biologist made a name for himself studying the mysterious giant squid.
"This is the moment of reckoning... I'm afraid we have got nothing, so what we will do is let all of this go - I'm getting pretty used to this. The squid man comes on out and can't catch any squid."
Now O'Shea wants to rid the deep sea of bottom trawlers.
"I do see the fishing industry, bottom trawlers, I see the practice as criminal. I would like to see these guys in prison. I would like to see certain high profile CEO type people within the industry in prison for lies, for deceit and for destruction," says O'Shea.
Head of Amaltal Fishing, Andrew Talley, says O'Shea has radical environmentalist views.
"As an environmentalist, he uses his scientific background to elevate what he says... It is environmental dogma ... It is fiction," says Talley.
Environmentalists fear many creatures are being dragged towards extinction as bottom trawlers go deeper and further into international waters.
"I see the fishing industry as a cancer, exploiting fish stocks further afield because we have exhausted everything within the EEZ. And once we've exhausted those further afield... we are just going to go deeper," says O'Shea.
But the fishing industry says that's nonsense - Talley says its neither destructive, barbaric or destructive.
"This misrepresentation that bottom trawling is unsustainable, that its bringing to the brink of extinction many species, that we are clearfelling acres or hectares or thousands of square kilometres of coral is unsubstantiated claptrap," says Talley.
Deep sea bottom-trawlers use a massive net, approximately four metres high and 40 metres wide. It is lowered a kilometre and a half to the sea floor where it scoops up everything in its path. Fish, sponges and coral.
O'Shea says its fundamentally wrong.
"In effect, it's the same as trying to herd cows up with a net and dragging a net through a farm. You catch a few cows. You catch the farmers wife. You catch a cattle trough. All this other stuff is incidental bi-catch, filth, bottom filth they refer to it. We just don't do that on land. Why are we doing it in the oceans?" asks O'Shea.
Talley has his own version of that analogy.
"Certainly fishermen wont be able to drop the net down the chimney. But he will be able to put it through the barn doors and pick the three or four biggest cows that he wants. And he will come out of the barn doors. If he likes the look of the farmer's wife he might take her too. But every now and then, he might knock at the barn door. He might grab the pig and the goat in the corner - but it is far more selective than that analogy," says Talley.
Underwater seamounts are the favoured fishing grounds of deep sea trawlers. They are home to a rich array of life, including massive coral forests.
One of the very few seamounts in New Zealand that has been set aside as a reserve has the most luxuriant coral growths imaginable.
A black and white video of a seamount, which was recorded by scientists at the national institute of water and atmospheric research and obtained under the official information act, proves damage is being done.
"It is quite an appropriate name for it really isn't it? So here again we are going through masses of dead coral you can actually see the trawl marks," says O'Shea.
O'Shea says there is no denying the trawlers have left their mark.
"They have systematically towed the hell out it to the extent that there is nothing left but barren wasteland," says O'Shea.
Talley says, in some cases, the bathymetric habitat will be affected. "We will modify the environment."
"It is an unfortunate effect of fishing. Is that sustainable? That is the issue. Is it something the industry is proud of? No. Is it best practise? Probably not. Is it sustainable? Yes," says Talley.
The fishing industry says GPS, sonar and sounder technology has made deep sea fishing a precision business and, according to Skipper Chris Wheylan, the vast majority of underwater seamounts remain untouched.
"These seamounts here .. you can't fish the tops ... You can only fish the sides and round the base of them because they are too foul. They end up losing your gear on there and no-one wants to do that," says Wheylan.
But O'Shea and environmentalists remain unconvinced.
"The kindest thing that could happen right now is for orange roughy to go extinct. If orange roughy goes extinct. The environment by default is protected.
"It's a dirty old business, but it's all about money isn't it? The fishing industry are a bunch of lying bullies. It's that simple."
This month, the Rainbow Warrior took to the high seas in pursuit of the deep sea bottom trawlers following them and videoing them... And tampered with their nets.
Talley described this an an attack by hairies and hippies armed with knives and gaffs.
"Our net was cut. Is there video footage of it being cut I don't know. It wasn't cut by an orange roughy sitting on the bottom with a knife... It was cut by Greenpeace," says Talley.
But it was images of a 500 year old gorgonian coral, dredged up and dumped by crew of the Waipori that inflicted the greatest damage on New Zealand's bottom trawlers.
Carmen Gravatt of Greenpeace says she was outraged.
"They threw it back and laughed. And I was shocked to see wanton destruction for the sake of a few fish.
Gravatt says deep sea bottom trawling has to stop.
"At the moment there is this ugly race between science and the fishing industry and at the moment the fishing industry is winning. We actually need to put in place a pause so scientist get a chance to assess this incredible life and then we can work out how to protect it... At the moment if they keep going there will be nothing left," says Gravatt.
With the evidence on video, the Rainbow Warrior returned to Nelson.
Andrew Talley, however, says that this is not enough: "It's a typical direct action campaign by Greenpeace...Greenpeace don't tell the truth, they're renowned for for not telling truth - that is how they operate."
Like Greenpeace, O'Shea is convinced the deep is in deep trouble.
"I give it a decade before we see a complete environmental collapse," he says.
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