Paua depletion was effectively the result of increased recreational harvesting, not all of it legal, and in more recent times efforts have been made to re-seed depleted beds with juveniles bred in captivity. That option is currently not affordable, and in any event some of the first crop of seeded juveniles have already been taken, illegally, but earlier this month Mr Austen delivered eight Ahipara paua to Kaitaia College, where they will be studied and used to establish a breeding programme there.
Paua weren't difficult to breed in captivity, he said. Some years ago he had set up a "Heath Robinson" breeding programme at his home at Waimanoni, north of Awanui, but had not had the time needed to make a success of it, although he did learn a good deal.
They were not especially successful breeders in the wild, however, unless conditions were precisely as they needed to be. It also seemed that paua reached an age where they no longer bred.
Research suggested that paua could live to around 40 years of age, but he believed that some massive specimens he had seen at Ahipara, in areas where there was no sign whatsoever of regeneration, were the contemporaries of paua he had taken as a young man.
But while the current situation represented something of an impasse between those who saw taking paua as their inalienable right and those trying to save them from extinction, much of the response he was receiving was positive.
"Attitudes have changed a lot over the last few years for sure," he said, "but they need to keep changing. A lot of what we've done in the past has been done out of ignorance. People thought it didn't matter how many native trees they cut down or how many fish they took because they would always be there. We now know that that isn't true."
He had travelled far and wide in search of the key to preserving paua for the future; the species was surprisingly common around the world, he said, although in many other countries it was offered much more protection than in New Zealand. Western Australia had a specific paua season, which ran over five consecutive Sundays, and the daily limit per person in South Australia was two or three. (The daily limit in New Zealand is 10 per person, with a year-round season).
Other coastal communities were also working to protect their marine resources, but Mr Austen did not know of any were tackling an issue on quite as broad a front as Ahipara. He believed education and protection offered the most promise, long- and shorter-term respectively..
"I went to an abalone symposium in Hobart a few years ago, looking for a silver bullet, but I don't think there is one," he said.
"Taking paua seems to be much more strictly controlled in other countries though. Some people here won't change their attitude until there's nothing left, like toheroa. Then they'll realise that something has to be done.
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Nominations for the Pride of New Zealand Awards closed on Sunday. Regional awards will be presented in August, and national awards in September. Voting for the TSB Bank People's Choice Award opens on August 11 and closes on September 8.
