Hefty fine for setting pests free

Anyone caught releasing a pest in a nature reserve could face a year in prison or a $100,000 fine.

Present penalties are "pathetic" and the Cabinet has agreed to increase them, Conservation Minister Chris Carter said yesterday.

Anyone releasing a stoat in a nature reserve like Codfish Island, as had been threatened, was liable at present to a maximum one month in prison or a $500 fine.

"Plainly, this penalty is pathetic compared with the severe consequences such an action could have for world famous conservation sanctuaries the New Zealand taxpayer has spent millions of dollars developing," Mr Carter said.

The Government planned to introduce legislation before the end of the year to increase the penalty to a maximum of one year in prison or a fine of $100,000.

"Doing so will bring conservation law more into line with other environmental legislation, notably the Biosecurity Act, which already carries tough penalties for the illegal release of unwanted organisms, such as pest fish."

The new penalties would also apply to individuals caught illegally releasing wild animals into conservation areas.

Pigs have been found in the Kepler Mountains of Fiordland, which they could have got into only with human help.

Pigs were enormously destructive to native species, particularly ground-dwelling birds, and the presence of them in the Kepler put Fiordland's population of takahe at risk.

The legislation, the Conservation Law Reform Bill, would also empower fisheries, customs, police and Defence Force personnel to monitor conservation areas.

The bill would increase penalties under the Reserves Act, the Conservation Act and the National Parks Act.

In January, a group claiming to be the Bio-diversity Action Group threatened to release possums or stoats on predator-free Codfish Island and Stewart Island.

- NZPA