Trout poached for tangi says Turangi shepherd

Relevant offers

Crime

Vandals trash couple's dream home Ex-MP admits drink-driving They even took the kitchen sink Thieves pillage weapons, armour Baby murder-accused sobs, sniffles in court NZ police access Facebook evidence Warning: Man approaching children Jail for stabbing ex-partner with screwdriver Megaupload accused to spend another weekend in jail Wellington man fit for trial on wife's murder

A Turangi shepherd convicted of poaching trout from a spawning stream said the fish were for a tangi.

Jamarl Hona, 32, was convicted and fined $500 in Taupo District Court yesterday after pleading guilty to using a gill net to take 17 trout from the Omori Stream mouth in February.

The maximum penalty is a $5000 fine.

The haul of fish included 16 brown trout and one rainbow trout.

Judge James Weir convicted and discharged Hona on two other charges, of exceeding the daily limit of three trout, and fishing without a licence.

Hona, a former King Country rugby representative, had no previous convictions for breaching fishing regulations, the court was told.

"Taking excessive trout from the lake is unacceptable but I have taken into account your exemplary record and contribution to the community," Judge Weir told him.

Hona had set the net late at night at the stream mouth and was seen by two Conservation Department rangers pulling it in at 3am. He admitted it was illegal to net trout and told them the fish were for a tangi.

Outside court Hona said he had expected the penalty to be harsher. "I thought it would be a lot more. I know it is wrong to net trout but I was trying to help a friend for a tangi."

Hona said he agreed with the regulations to stop poaching. "There is a lot of it going on and the department are really coming down hard and trying to stamp it out."

His father, Raymond Hona, 49, drowned in 2003 at Waimarino Stream when he stepped into a 14-metre-deep hole while hauling in a net containing 50 trout.

DOC Turangi officer Jill Larsen-Welsh said the penalty was "fair in the circumstances".

The sustainability of Lake Taupo's wild brown and rainbow trout fishery depended on undisturbed spawning in streams and rivers feeding into the lake, she said.

Fishing was a highly valued pursuit for local and international anglers and contributed about $90 million to Taupo's economy.

- © Fairfax NZ News