Fishery Officers and Police had stopped a motor vehicle in Wairarapa and found 708 paua in the boot. They seized the paua on the spot. Earlier in the day, the officers had observed a group of people gathering paua among the rocks at Mataikona. Three vehicles with 10 people inside were later stopped on their way back to Masterton. One of the vehicles was found to have paua and dive gear in the boot. None of the group admitted taking any of the shellfish.
Ray McKay, Field Operations Manager for the Hawke’s Bay Wairarapa area, said that last week Masterton Fishery Officers seized 145 paua which they believed were gathered by the same group in the Castlepoint area. Fishery Officers had also recovered around 900 paua shells in the Ruamahanga River area, which appeared to have been abandoned over the weekend.
According to McKay the Wairarapa coast is vast and the only way we will make any significant inroads into this environmental theft is with the help of the Wairarapa public. He also said that he wished to acknowledge the ongoing support that the Wairarapa Police provided to the two Masterton-based Fishery Officers.
