Community support helps nab poachers

31 July 2007

Community support was the key to fishery officers catching up with a couple of poachers in Northland’s Te Ngaere Bay.

Ministry of Fisheries Whangarei district compliance manager Darren Edwards said fishery officers caught two men last week with 43 snapper, 11 of which were undersized. The daily bag limit for snapper is nine per person.

The men also had undersized kingfish, paua and rock lobster and have been issued infringement notices totalling $1250 each.

“Taking too many fish and undersized fish can lead to areas getting fished out. It’s concerning that these men are locals. If everyone took what they liked, bays like this would get fished out.”

“It’s very pleasing that the community doesn’t tolerate this type of fishing and let MFish know about it. Fishery officers can’t be everywhere, but we can be very effective with help from the public.”

“I encourage anyone to contact the Ministry of Fisheries on 0800 4 POACHER (0800 476 224) if they see any suspicious fishing activity.”