Mount Maunganui man finds bags of crayfish dumped at transfer station

Bags of crayfish have been dumped at the Mount Maunganui Transfer Station. Photo / Supplied

A Mount Maunganui fisherman was shocked to find several large bags of crayfish dumped at Te Maunga Transfer Station recently.

Sam Toner said a friend, who is not a fisherman, saw the crayfish on November 4 and took a photo.

"He's not a fisherman himself but thought it was curious so took a photo and showed me," Toner said.

"He said as well as what is in the photo there were some reasonably big, clear plastic bags full. I flicked [the photo] off to MPI and they've been pretty responsive, they're looking into it."

Earlier this year, Fisheries New Zealand announced changes to the recreational fishing rules for rock lobster in the Hauraki Gulf/Bay of Plenty rock lobster fisheries from July 1.

In the Hauraki Gulf/Bay of Plenty fishery, known as CRA 2, the recreational daily bag limit was reduced from six spiny rock lobsters per person to a new daily limit of three.

Toner said it was disappointing for those who follow the rules to see such wastage.

"It's pretty gutting, especially with the recreational takes being cut recently. I can only guess the reason for it."

Toner took to the NZ Fishing Community Facebook page to see if anyone had theories about why someone would dump so many crayfish.

Hundreds commented, expressing their dismay at such wastage, and many also suggested reasons for the dumping.

One said: "Maybe a freezer had failed? I know i wouldn't eat seafood that had defrosted and started to smell."

Other comments included: "I'm worried about Tangaroa rules could be put in place to stop this from happening whether it was a freezer malfunction or whatever. It was avoidable."

"So sad. There are so many whānau out there struggling to make ends meet and precious kai is being wasted. Poor Tangaroa. This kai is so expensive too, would have made a lot of whānau happy to eat such hard to buy/get. Breaks my heart."

An MPI Fisheries spokesman confirmed the incident had been reported and was currently under investigation.

He said he could not comment further at this stage of the investigation.