Charges over undersized paua

Fisheries officers have seized several hundred undersized paua in Hawkes Bay.

While the police were patrolling the roads during Easter weekend, fisheries officers were watching for illegal seafood poachers on Hawkes Bay beaches.

This weekend normally marks the end of the traditional summer recreational fishing season but favourable weather and sea conditions could extend the time fishers are on the beaches.

Ministry of Fisheries Napier district compliance manager Ray McKay said the patrols followed the seizure by honorary fishery officers of several hundred paua in routine patrols of central Hawkes Bay beaches earlier in the month.

The seizures included 177 paua at Mangakuri and a further 55 undersize paua at Blackhead Light.

Napier fishery officers also caught another fisher last week with 80 paua.

"This total disregard of fisheries rules, and the depletion of paua stocks it causes, will not be tolerated," Mr McKay said. All will be prosecuted.

Mr McKay believes that a good number of Hawkes Bay fishers had respected the rules. "The number of fishers caught flouting the rules this summer was down on previous years," he said. "But we are still concerned at the large quantities of paua, including undersized, that we have seized."

THE LIMITS

* Daily allowance is 10 a person.
* Minimum legal sizes are 125mm for the blackfoot paua and 80mm for the yellowfoot paua. Size is measured in a straight line across length of the shell.
* Undersized paua should be put back in areas which will allow them to reattach to rocks or a reef.
* If thrown back into the water over sand they will not survive.
Information from Ministry of Fisheries' website: www.fish.govt.nz

- HAWKE'S BAY TODAY