Fishery officers have raided properties in the Bay of Plenty after a 12-month investigation into the black market sale of paua and kina.
They allege the operation was centred around Motiti Island, off Tauranga, where divers gathered paua and kina and sold them to a network of buyers in Tauranga, Whakatane, Hamilton and Auckland.
Fishery officers and police searched houses at Motiti Island and Tauranga, and several business premises, including a powered-storage facility at Mt Maunganui, where they seized two freezers containing 116kg of paua with a commercial value of $15,000.
The paua was minced and frozen in 500g and 1kg bags - 210 in total.
Ministry for Primary Industries spokesman Brendon Mikkelsen said an estimated 231kg of minced paua with with a commercial value of $30,000 was poached and sold over the past year. It is believed 43 litres of kina were poached and sold for $3500.
