Nine paua poachers convicted

File photo / Northern Advocate

The Ministry of Fisheries is celebrating the successful prosecution of nine Wellington paua poachers - most of them repeat offenders.

Six of the nine have been sentenced, and two of them are going to prison.

They were all arrested in September last year in a remote location called Rock Point on Wellington's west coast, three kilometres south of Titahi Bay.

Fishery Officers found more than 1000 paua in 10 white sacks hidden in various locations along the coast and in a camp set up by the offenders.

The Ministry said the amount of paua was far in excess of the catch limit, and most of them were undersized.

One of those yet to be sentenced has also been found guilty of obstructing a Fishery Officer and has been denied bail.

- NEWSTALK ZB