Pāua poaching has worsened in Wellington — 30% of people checked are breaking the law.
The area limit is five pāua per person, but officers are catching people with hundreds of the dark-fleshed delicacy.
On Good Friday, two divers were caught with 433 pāua near Red Rocks on the south coast, returning from shore about 7.30pm under the cover of darkness.
There were also reports of illegal shellfish trading in organised crime.
Normally one in 10 people checked nationwide are found to be over the limit with their pāua or taking undersized juveniles. Officers were disappointed that Wellington’s rates were much higher — and worsening this summer.
More than 200 people were caught poaching in the nine months to March, sparking concerns for the fishery’s future.
Renee Randall (Te Ātiawa ki te Upoko o te Ika a Māui) told 1News, with the current poaching rates, “the natural resource that we have in Wellington and in New Zealand is outstanding, but it won’t be too long before it’s all gone”.
He has been diving for the taonga shellfish for 50 years — and said both Māori and non-Māori needed to be kaitiaki to protect the pāua, as treaty partners.
“My experience is, it’s getting harder to find.”
He was also concerned the shellfish had become a currency for criminal activity.
“There’s some people in our community that don’t value taonga as a resource, they don’t value kaitiakitanga trying to protect that resource. They view our resources, your resources as a commodity. Something that can be traded and bartered away and sold and used for other reasons.”
Fisheries New Zealand regional manager Phillip Tasker also said sometimes “extreme amounts of pāua has been taken for commercial gain as a saleable commodity”.
At the same time, divers thought families were looking to pāua for food more often in the cost of living crisis, and tech such as e-bikes has made rugged coastlines easier to access.
Well-planned illegal operations
When people were poaching, it was often a mix of undersized shellfish, and illegal take numbers, and the more extreme missions were sometimes carefully planned.
Tasker said: “They have lookouts. They obviously target the times when they think we’re not going to be around, at night or early morning.”
And there’s threatening behaviour towards officers — while none have been injured in Wellington, police were sometimes required to be called in.
“Our staff have got stab-proof, resistant vests and a body-worn cameras,” Tasker said.
Authorities could seize property of serious offenders — confiscating vehicles and diver gear of the pair caught this weekend, who would likely now face charges.
Tasker said: “When we’re in the space where they’ve taken big numbers, we are using our powers under the Fisheries Act.”
The public was asked to report illegal takes to the 0800 4 POACHER number.
