Three people found on Friday afternoon with 25 freshly caught rainbow trout are facing charges of poaching.

A 40 year old man, a 17 year old man and a 17 year old woman were seen by Fish & Game officers when carrying out checks at a Rotorua trout spawning stream on Friday.

Trout.

They were allegedly found with a net and the freshly killed trout.

'The taking of spawning trout in numbers such as this, combined with disturbance commonly caused by poachers to spawning grounds can have a serious impact on trout fisheries in the long term,” says Fish & Game officer Anthony van Dorp.

'It is vital that people keep out of spawning streams, and leave trout alone to spawn undisturbed, as the long term viability and success of trout fisheries depends on this.

'It is very disappointing to see trout poaching on such a scale.”

Trout poachers caught will be charged and face penalties of up to 12 months in prison and fines of up to $10,000.

Poaching arrests so far this winter don't seem to be much different than the last two years in terms of numbers, says Anthony.

'We find that when spawning trout are in the little streams they do become visible to offenders and if visible there are always some who want to give it a go,” says Anthony.

The webcams that are helping rangers keep an eye on spawning streams this year did not play any part in Friday's arrest – though they have helped in other incidents.

'It's a very valuable tool. It can give information to help with prosecution and also just lets us know they are in the area.

'In this case the alleged defenders were detected by rangers making general checks and monitoring on a stream.

'It's a very significant incident with 25 fish; certainly more than just taking one for a feed.”

Fish & Game's poaching alert hotline is 0800 POACHING (0800 762 244).