A senior Japanese diplomat and his wife, fined for poaching cockles north of Auckland, allegedly tried to escape action by claiming diplomatic immunity.
Government ministers have been briefed on the diplomatic embarrassment, but Acting Fisheries Minister Pete Hodgson has declined to comment.
The Fisheries Ministry confirmed two foreign nationals were
caught by a fisheries officer in Tramcar Bay, near Leigh, with up to three times the bag limit of the shellfish.
District compliance manager Matt Cowan said the claim of diplomatic immunity "was raised on the beach at the time of the incident" - an allegation denied by the Japanese.
Worried officials called the Foreign Affairs Ministry, which spoke to the Japanese consulate and confirmed the Auckland-based consul was not entitled to immunity and would not seek it.
It is understood the consul, his wife and their young son were loaded up with bags of cockles when they were apprehended by honorary fisheries officer Bruce Davies. The Fisheries Ministry fined the pair $500 each for the February 20 offence.
Japan's acting Consul-General, Kazuaki Kameda, defended the diplomat's actions: "He didn't know anything about the limitation on cockles able to be caught. He realised when approached by the officers."
He denied the ministry allegation, reported to the Beehive, that the consul had raised the issue of diplomatic immunity. Mr Kameda said the diplomat had paid the fines without complaint.
Though he said the consul had been warned by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs to be more cautious, he continued to defend his actions: "Maybe I would have done the same thing, I cannot deny it. You cannot assume that all people know every detail of the rules in this country."
Mr Kameda accepted ignorance of the law was no defence, but said that in Japan the offence would not have been regarded so seriously. "This is the first time he did it and he just didn't know."
Beachfront resident Kevin Weston said the many signs warning of the limits were impossible to miss. "It's well signposted at every single entry and by the wharf," Mr Weston said.
Mr Cowan said bag limits were there for a reason - to protect the shellfish resource for the future. "They are well signposted, but it would be fair to say there is still a significant level of offending - and we crack down pretty hard on them."
- Herald on Sunday
