Dozens of shellfish and pāua spread out on tarpaulins, and hundreds of crayfish lined up neatly alongside fish, might sound like a seafood market, but it's much more likely to be illegally gathered, and seized by the Ministry for Primary Industries. But what happens to it after it's been intercepted?
One way or another, it goes back to where it came from. It does not find its way to anyone's table.
Following four very recent interventions, Fisheries officers returned almost 3000 cockles and 156 undersized pāua to the sea after several groups of people were caught, claiming to be unaware of a beach closure and regional and quantity limits on shellfish gathering.
While smaller-scale offences are often dealt with via 'education,' more serious breaches often lead to infringement notices and prosecutions, the illegally harvested seafood becoming evidence for any subsequent proceedings.
"Of course the court does not appreciate us showing up with a bag of wet, smelly, mouldy two-month-old pāua, so the next best thing for our officers to do is to lay out any kaimoana as quickly as possible, take photos to show the court, then put everything back in the ocean if it has a high chance of surviving," national manager fisheries compliance Steve Ham said.
