Fishery officers stopped the man at Castor Bay and seized his vessel and fishing gear. Video / Chris Jellie
A witness described the hundreds of undersized pāua spread across a tarpaulin as “frustrating and sad” after fishery officers intercepted a man on Auckland’s North Shore.
Fisheries New Zealand district manager North Harbour, Glen Blackwell, said officers caught the man at Castor Bay on Sunday after acting on information fromthe public.
“Two fishery officers waited for the man to return in his boat at Castor Bay, on Auckland’s North Shore,” Blackwell told the Herald.
“The man, known to fishery officers, had about 200 undersized pāua in his possession.
According to the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI), the minimum size of an ordinary pāua must be 125mm, while the daily limit per fisher in the Auckland-Coromandel area is 10.
A man was caught with about 200 undersized pāua in Castor Bay. Photo / Supplied
“It was quite frustrating and sad to see something that was still so juvenile be taken from the Hauraki Gulf where you didn’t think that they even existed,” the witness said.
“[We need to] start protecting our beautiful resource here in the Hauraki Gulf just a little bit more than this or else we’re not going to have something soon.”
The witness said the man had chosen “a very obscure place to launch from”.
“It just looks like he’s trying to avoid or be able to get out of the water with as little attention on himself as possible. So I think [Fisheries New Zealand] has done a fantastic job here.
