Paua offenders in court

Fisheries officers had a busy day around Kaikoura last Wednesday with a total of eight infringements handed down for undersize paua and crayfish possession.

Officer Mark Green said since then the weather had slowed things down a bit.

"Overall the number of inspections are down but unfortunately the infringements are still there," he said.

Two cases were brought to the Kaikoura District Court on Friday regarding the taking of undersize and excess paua.

Sickness beneficiary John James McDonald, 49, of Christchurch, entered guilty pleas to charges of taking excess paua and taking undersize paua when he appeared on Friday.

McDonald had been gathering paua off the Kaikoura coast on December 8 when he was found to be in possession of 43 paua, of which all bar one were undersize.

The legal daily limit is 10 and the minimum size is 125mm.

Judge Tony Couch told the court that the point needed to be made to the public generally that shellfish such as paua were a very vulnerable national treasure.

"If they are exploited in this way, it will not only be us who are deprived, but also those who come after us.

"We have an obligation to protect them."

He pointed out that it was often difficult to detect this sort of offending so when it was detected those people caught would become examples.

McDonald was fined $1250 plus court costs of $130 for taking excess paua, and a further $500 for taking undersize.

Patrick Mark Maguire, a 63 year old builder from Christchurch, was charged with obstruction after an incident in Kaikoura on February 3 when he ignored the requests of a fisheries officer.

Maguire entered a guilty plea.

The court heard that the fisheries officer had been to inspect a catch when Maguire took two paua out of a bucket and went to return them to the sea.

The officer asked him to stop, however Maguire ignored the request and threw the paua back in the sea, telling the officer they would "sort it out in court".

Defence lawyer Gary Sawyer said the matter had escalated out of control and it had been entirely out of character.

Maguire's partner had refused to giver her details to the officer and she had been placed under arrest.

Concerned he would be set up with having excess paua, he threw two back in the sea.

Judge Couch told him an offence had been committed, whether it was having undersize or excess paua.

"The job of fisheries officers is a difficult one and is very critical to the maintenance of fish stocks, especially shellfish," he said.

"They need, and are entitled to expect, the full co-operation of the public and you failed to give them that."

Judge Couch accepted, however, that the offending had ben very much at the bottom end of a large scale, and convicted and fined Maguire $350 plus court costs of $130.

- © Fairfax NZ News