Paua poaching is one of the longest and most comprehensive paua poaching operations in New Zealand’s history. To get rid of this menace the Ministry of Fisheries has announced PAID operation. According to the Fisheries Minister operation PAID, standing for Paua and Illegal Divers, a two-year operation in Wellington and elsewhere, netted a total of 53 defendants who faced 321 charges.
The information revealed that twenty-eight received prison sentences ranging from seven months to three years two months, and 23 community-based sentences from 70 hours’ community service to seven months’ home detention and 200 hours’ community service. Operation PAID was a year-long covert operation targeting the organised poaching, sale and distribution of paua from the Wellington coastline.
In May 2008, 200 Fishery Officers and Police undertook simultaneous enforcement action in Auckland, Wellington, Opotiki and Hastings, the climax of an operation that had started six months earlier. Andrew Coleman, Ministry of Fisheries Deputy Chief Executive Field Operations, said that the result of Operation PAID is satisfactory.
Fisheries and Aquaculture Minister Phil Heatley also paid tribute to the teamwork that was necessary to deliver such a comprehensive outcome. He said that the totally supports its efforts to stop the criminals in their tracks. Fish thieves must be nailed, he said. The completion of Operation PAID comes at the same time as the Ministry’s public summer awareness programme, “4 Million Guardians”, is coming towards a successful conclusion.
