The glorious summer weather may be great for humans, but it is devastating for shellfish.
Fine days and exceptionally low tides have provided ideal conditions for people to harvest more of the creatures than they should, the Ministry of Fisheries has said.
The ministry's Dunedin-based officer Trevor Bills said he and his colleagues had been "kept very busy apprehending people taking excess and undersized shellfish, mainly paua".
"There are a number of shellfish beds along the coast from Oamaru to Moeraki. Some of these beds are easily accessible, which makes these spots vulnerable to excess shellfish gathering," he said.
The ministry said each person is allowed only 10 paua per day and they must measure at least 125mm in length.
A number of inspections by fisheries officers showed some people had taken many more than that, Mr Bills said.
The worst incident involved an offender taking up to nine times the daily limit for paua.
- NZPA
Don't act selfish with the shellfish
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.