Foreign fishing crews underpaid in Aust

Four Indonesian fishing crew members have been underpaid by more than $40,000 while working on tuna vessels off Australia's coast.

The Fair Work Ombudsman says Stella Del Mare, previously known as Australian Wild Tuna, has been fined $43,200 for underpaying deck hands and an engineer working on two boats between Sydney and Queensland's Sunshine Coast in 2012 and 2013.

Underpayments ranged from $7113 to $12,604 because the company failed to pay minimum wages. Record-keeping and pay slip laws were also broken.

Stella Del Mare's Sydney-based director and manager Angelo Maiorana has personally been fined $5120.

He had promised employees their wages would be paid after the company's financial difficulties were resolved, the ombudsman said.