KEY POINTS:
A Rotorua beneficiary has lost his car and been fined $4000 for taking more than 14 times his legal limit of paua.
In the Tauranga District Court yesterday, Pirimi Te Whiunga Tait, 50, pleaded guilty to possessing 144 paua - all under size.
The legal daily limit is 10 a person.
Tait was found with his illegal haul at Maketu near Te Puke on January 21 after a fishery officer saw him snorkelling and then loading the paua into his car.
When stopped, Tait denied he had been gathering shellfish until the fishery officer found them in his boot.
Judge Ian Thomas said Tait was "wrecking the resource", and helping destroy the future of the fishery.
Tait's 1982 Honda Civic car, considered to be worth only a few hundred dollars, could be bought back from the Crown for $200, Judge Thomas said.
- NZPA
