As per the media release the government of New Zealand has coordinated series of patrols throughout the Coromandel peninsula over the summer period has caught 40 people breaking fisheries rules and stealing fish and shellfish from their fellow citizens. Bay of Plenty Waikato Coromandel Field Operations Manager Brendon Mikkelsen said that the patrols are proving so successful because the Ministry has adopted an “anytime, anywhere” approach.
Mikkelsen also said that they run patrols from early in the morning until late at night, both on land and at sea. In conjunction with police, we also set up checkpoints and are catching offenders as they leave popular beaches and fishing spots with their illegal haul.
These patrols involves both Fishery Officers and Honorary Fishery Officer volunteers, have been spread over hundreds of hours and resulted in the detection of a wide range of fisheries offences. He added that some of these are quite minor but unfortunately several are not. He said that in the more serious cases, vehicles and property used in the offending have been seized and the offenders will be prosecuted. If the alleged offenders are convicted, these vehicles and property will automatically be forfeit to the Crown.
Mikkelsen says the Ministry’s summer-long public awareness campaign is receiving excellent support both from local communities on the peninsula and from visiting fishers. He told that Fishery Officers and HFOs obviously can’t be everywhere at once and we rely heavily on members of the public to alert us when they see illegal fishing activities.
