Reserve boundaries catch fishers unawares

Undersized Paua pictured at the Ministry of Fisheries office in Napier. Photo / Hawkes Bay Today

There has been a steady stream of offenders through the courts who are charged with various offences, but those involving unlawfully taking and possessing paua dominate the cases.Fishing in a marine reserve is obviously prohibited, but unlike restricted areas on land where fences and signs can identify closed spaces at sea it is mainly a question of being able to read a chart. And it would not be hard to stray too close to water which is closed to all fishing.

This is exactly what happened to a party of four men who were fishing in a competition being run out of Whangamata.

They were trolling lures near Mayor Island when they were spotted by DoC officers who determined that they were inside the boundaries of the Tuhua or Mayor Island Marine Reserve.

When the DoC officers stopped and checked the boat they found that the men had not caught any fish but that didn't save them.

The DoC staff confiscated the nine rods on board, worth about $10,000.

The four were charged with fishing in the reserve and when they appeared in the Tauranga District Court were each fined $400. They also had to forfeit the $1400 they had paid DoC to retrieve their confiscated rods.

That's a total of $3000 for dragging some lures where they shouldn't have been fishing.

It is important to know where the boundaries of these reserves are, as these four anglers may have had no intention of fishing in the reserve and just didn't realise they had wandered into it.

Scientists are asking scallop gatherers to keep an eye out for tagged scallops in the new season which opened on July 15 around much of the country, and runs through to February 14.

Over the last couple of months Niwa staff have tagged more than 9000 scallops in Golden Bay, Tasman Bay, the Marlborough Sounds, Northland and the Coromandel.

This is part of a Ministry of Fisheries research programme, and anyone who catches a tagged scallop is asked to keep it in a plastic bag in a freezer and phone Niwa on (09) 375 2050 or 0800 746 464.

The scallop season in Auckland, Northland, Waikato and Bay of Plenty opens on September 1 and runs to March 31.

There has been a steady stream of offenders through the courts who are charged with various offences, but those involving unlawfully taking and possessing paua dominate the cases.

Paua are worth so much money on the black market that poaching is a major problem right around the country.

Once the illegal take gets to more than three times the legal daily limit, which in the case of paua is 10, the charge becomes one of serious non-commercial offending.

Not only do the maximum fines increase but there is also the possibility that the Ministry can charge the offender with taking the fish or shellfish for supply, which comes under the Fisheries Act which covers commercial fishing, and is far more serious. For example, serious non-commercial offending carries a maximum fine of $20,000; while taking for supply carries one of $250,000.

A group of nine people found diving near Wellington's Titahi Bay had a concealed self-sufficient camp set up nearby, and when apprehended they had 1182 paua, of which 804 were undersized.

Of three who have appeared in court one was sentenced to two years' jail, and the other two got home detention.

When Porirua man Manua Fasavalu appeared recently in the Porirua District Court he pleaded guilty to four charges involving illegally taking and possessing excess and undersized paua under the Fisheries Act.

He was sentenced to 17 months in prison and was banned for fishing for three years.

Another of the group, Neru Kome, also from Porirua, was sentenced to five and a half months' home detention on two similar charges and was banned from fishing for three years.

As well, a vehicle and dive gear were forfeit to the Crown.

Four other members of this group are yet to be dealt with by the court.

More fishing action can be found on the new internet television channel, www.FishnHunt.Tv.