Paua gatherers told to 'catch a feed, not a fine'

Some of the 867 paua recovered. Photo / MPI

Divers are being warned to "catch a feed, not a fine" this summer after 25 people were busted for catching large hauls of undersized paua near Hokianga.

The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) summer programme commenced last week and began with a three day operation at Kawerua, south of Hokianga.

MPI compliance officers caught 25 people who had broken the recreational limit of 10 paua per person, per day, or the minimum size limit of 125mm.

Of these 25 people, 10 were facing prosecution for taking more than the daily recreational limit and 14 others have been issued with instant fines.

The driver of a car containing 250 undersized paua was also facing serious charges.

It was extremely disappointing to see this valuable resource treated with disrespect, MPI District Compliance Manager for Northland Darren Edwards said.

He said luckily, most of the 750 paua that were seized during the operation were returned to the sea, giving them some chance of survival.

"Northland's paua fishery faces a growing threat with this sort of gathering and puts the future paua stocks at risk. It's not like paua move around much. Once an area is stripped it can take years to recover.

"It's not like you can't get legal paua from the area. A group we inspected had legal catches, all paua over the minimum size of 125mm and no more than 10 per person."

Mr Edwards said the majority of those apprehended were locals from the Hokianga area and it was disappointing to see a small number of the community treat their own resource with such disregard.

Mr Edwards said compliance officers and honorary fisheries officers would be active throughout Northland over the busy summer months checking fishers' recreational catch.

"Respect the rules and catch a feed, not a fine," he said.

Mr Edwards said MPI encouraged people to report any suspicious fishing activity to 0800 476 224.