Paua patrol a boost for Kaikoura

Frontline poaching patrols of the Kaikoura coastline will be increased this summer with the addition of another part-time fisheries officer.

The announcement comes after 112 kilograms of shucked paua from the Kaikoura coast, destined for the black market, were intercepted by Ministry of Fisheries (MFish) officers last Friday.

The paua had a wholesale value of $15,000.

Last summer, Mark Green, from Kaikoura, was appointed the district's first full-time fisheries officer in more than a decade. His job continued part time during the winter and he will be back on the beat full time from November.

MFish Nelson district compliance manager Geoff Clark confirmed this morning that Mr Green would be joined by another officer three days a week from November until Easter 2010.

A spokesman from Minister of Fisheries Phil Heatley's office said $4.2 million nationally would be made available for additional patrols during the next four years.

As a result, the number of full-time fisheries officers would increase from 95 to 104 and the number of honorary fisheries officers would increase from 172 to 250. This might include a full-time Kaikoura officer.

Earlier in the year, the Kaikoura District Council unanimously agreed to lobby MFish for two full-time fisheries officers.

Kaikoura mayor Kevin Heays said he was delighted another part-time officer would be patrolling the coastline this summer, but the public would also need to remain vigilant in warding off poachers.

"We are pushing really hard for zero tolerance," Mr Heays said.

"Just bang them no letting them off here and there."

"We get some strange groups of people in town at low tide.

"We could do with as much help as we can get."

Last Friday, MFish staff followed a shipment of paua taken illegally from the Kaikoura coastline, processed in Nelson, then driven to an Auckland distributor. Two Vietnamese are being interviewed.

More charges are expected to be laid after further investigations and interviews in Auckland and Nelson.

Mr Clark said he was particularly annoyed about this group because it appeared they were linked to the family of a recently convicted poacher.

"These greedy individuals have not learnt from their last brush with fishery officers.

"The threat they are posing to Kaikoura's paua stocks is unacceptable and shows a total disregard for the long-term sustainability of this fishery," he said.

In March, a Vietnamese national, who was the leader of a black-market paua operation that took paua from the Kaikoura coast in covert night missions, was jailed for eight months.

His partner, a Cambodian national living unlawfully in New Zealand, was sentenced to three months' home detention.

Mr Clark said the incident highlighted that there was a demand for paua and more emphasis needed to be placed on random and high-visibility patrolling to deter poachers.

- The Marlborough Express