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An Australian-based mountain guide has been arrested after being caught guiding a four-person group in Mt Aspiring National Park without authorisation, the Department of Conservation said yesterday.
The man has been charged under the National Parks Act, said DOC's Wanaka community relations manager Annette Smith. A decision has yet to be made over when and where the case will be heard.
Ms Smith said the man had applied for a concession to undertake commercial guiding in the park some months ago, but his safety plan failed an independent audit and DOC declined his application.
"Unfortunately, he ignored that and brought his party across the Tasman and into the Mount Aspiring/Tititea area," Ms Smith said.
DOC staff were tipped off and, with police, met the man and his clients when they returned to Wanaka. The guide was then formally interviewed at the police station and charged.
Ms Smith said the same guide was apprehended at the end of 2005 for guiding without a concession and had been warned then.
She said the DOC was now in a position to do something about illegal guiding.
"We now have resources that we didn't have in the past.
"We started monitoring last season, and issued warnings. We're not mucking around."
Ms Smith said the monitoring had encountered several "irregularities", and 18 operators that either didn't have a concession or didn't have one to operate in that particular area.
"We have been following these up and further action may be taken if evidence warrants it."
Concession holder Pete James, a director of Aspiring Guides, has welcomed the DOC's tough approach to illegal guiding.
"It's very heartening to see - it's not just about us and our company, it's about the industry as a whole and what's going on in the mountains, because nobody wants fatalities," he said.
Mr James said illegal guiding had been a problem for a while, and it was good to see the DOC getting serious about it.
"We go through quite a rigorous and costly process to get concessions to guide in these places. But it's not just about the people who have ticked the boxes and met the prerequisites to get a concession.
"It's designed to make sure people are doing it in a safe manner and with respect to the natural environment so those of us who are jumping through the hoops and doing things right aren't out there beside someone who's doing it unsafely."
Mr James said the prosecution would raise widespread awareness that the DOC was serious about eliminating illegal guiding.
"We thoroughly approve and applaud DOC for taking these actions against unqualified people."
- NZPA
