Fishery officers have found a group of five adults and a child with 253 undersized paua and 222 kina. The paua, which need to be at least 125mm to be legally taken, ranged in size from 105mm to just 68mm.
Gatherers can also each only take 10 legal-sized paua per day. If these paua were of legal size, the group's combined limit, had they all been collecting is just 50.

Paua. File Picture.

Fishery officers confiscated the illegal shellfish and seized the two vehicles the group was using. Should those responsible be convicted, these vehicles will then likely be forfeit to the Crown. There is also the possibility of fines of up to $100,000.
Ministry of Fisheries' field operations manager for the Waikato/ Bay Of Plenty/ Coromandel area Brendon Mikkelsen says they will be regularly monitoring shellfish collecting throughout the summer.
'Those going fishing and gathering shellfish should expect to see fishery officer check points, marina inspections and sea patrols, both during the day and at night,” he says.
'We know that the vast majority of fishers honour the size and bag limits because they know they are there to protect the resource for future generations.
'However, a significant minority do not and instead greedily plunder the fish stocks and shellfish beds, selfishly taking far more than their fair share.
'Those people need to realise that, if we find large quantities of excess or undersized fish or shellfish in vessels or vehicles, those boats or cars will almost certainly be seized and the offenders prosecuted.”