Man fined for taking 10 times limit for pipi

A man has been fined $1500 after pleading guilty to taking more than 10 times the daily legal limit of pipi at Port Waikato in January.

Waihi man Desmond Arthur Thorburn, 58, was also ordered to pay court costs of $130 when he appeared in Waihi District Court yesterday.

Thorburn was caught with 506 pipi, compared with the legal daily limit for pipi in the Auckland Coromandel fisheries management area of 50 per person per day.

Without an early guilty plea, Thorburn would have been fined $3000, Judge Thomas Ingram said.

Judge Ingram said he believed everyone in New Zealand knew there were limits on shellfish gathering.

Thorburn had earlier told a Ministry of Fisheries officer that he did not know the daily limit for pipi.

The Ministry of Fisheries wanted members of the public to ring the ministry when they observed poaching, district compliance manager Ian Bright said.

"People who take more than their fair share of fish or shellfish are basically stealing from the other members of their community," Mr Bright said.

- NZPA