Illegal paua haul earns car, gear seizure

OVER THE LIMIT: Six hundred paua is about 590 too many for Norman Namana.PHOTO/FILE

Norman Mane Namana told fisheries officers he had only been diving for kina but on searching his vehicle they discovered nearly 600 paua, with 133 of those undersized.

The 31-year-old Carterton single father who admitted possessing more than the daily limit of paua and possession of paua under the legal size of 125mm, has lost his Nissan Bluebird car, two sets of diving gear and fishing equipment seized from his car when he was checked by fisheries officers on February 22, near Tora on the South Wairarapa coast.

Divers with a permit are only entitled to take 10 legal size paua daily unless their authority states otherwise.

He was among five people who appeared in Masterton District Court before Judge Barbara Morris recently on fisheries charges.

Ministry of Primary Industries prosecutor David Fordyce said there was a significant quantity of paua involved.

His co-accused Edward Reece Rauoniwa King, 32, also pleaded guilty to the same charges when he appeared before Judge Morris.

Judge Morris told both of them their offending put the future of the resource at risk.

She convicted them on the charges, fined Namana $6000 and ordered the forfeiture of his car, diving and fishing gear. She sentenced King to complete 180 hours' community work.

Meanwhile, the court heard Michael Douglas Karaitiana, 54, of Masterton who is accused of taking 99 paua in March, with 67 undersized, was at risk of a three-year fishing ban and forfeiture of his vehicle also, if convicted of the charges.

Karaitiana was remanded on bail without plea to reappear on Thursday.

Diving pair, Dalkeith Te Heke Matiaha, 51, of Carterton and Siale Ene, 35, of Masterton had customary authorisation to take 100 paua with a minimum size of 115mm from Palliser Bay for a tangi on January 29 but instead they gathered 202 paua, with 97 less than 105mm.

Both pleaded guilty to the charges.

The court heard the pair placed 100 paua in a bin putting the rest in a catch bag and hiding it among rocks when they saw fisheries staff arriving.

Judge Morris said the rules were in place to protect the resource into the future.

"If you take too many then the next time you go to gather something for a hui, there won't be anything to take," she said.

She noted Ene was only convicted in March on the same type of charges, warning him of any future fisheries convictions.

"If you are back before the court in the future, you could get a significant sentence."

Ene was sentenced to 150 hours' community work and had to forfeit his fishing gear to the Crown.

Matiaha was fined $2000 and also had to forfeit his fishing and diving equipment.