January 31, 2008

Paua poacher described as arrogant, determined

A determined paua poacher has been told he faces a likely three-year ban on recreational fishing if he offends again.

Defence counsel Andrew Bailey told the Christchurch District Court he had asked Soala Taavale why he had offended twice in three months.

?He just likes his fish,? Mr Bailey told Judge David Saunders when Taavale admitted four charges today.

He admitted two charges of taking more than the allowable catch of paua and two of taking under-sized paua.

Ministry of Fisheries prosecutor Grant Fletcher said Taavale had already received three infringement notices from fisheries officers before he was caught at Wainui on Banks Peninsula on October 15 and again at Boulder Bay, near Taylor?s Mistake, on January 9.

The ministry sought the ban, but Mr Bailey argued that it could not be imposed because the convictions had to be entered on different dates to become qualifying offences.

Judge Saunders accepted that, but warned Taavale that he would be ?pushing his luck? if he were caught again.

Mr Fletcher said Taavale and an associate were seen diving near Wainui about 4.30pm on October 15 and the Isuzu vehicle was later stopped by police and searched. Ninety shelled paua and 7 still in their shells were found in a blue backpack.

The limit is 10 paua per day, and the minimum size is 125mm. A significant number of the ones found would have come from undersized shells.

On January 9, Taavale was seen at Boulder Bay with another person, and was later found with 153 paua, again mainly below the legal minimum size.

He told officers he did it ?to feed his family?.

Mr Fletcher said paua were slow-growing and the limits were vital as a conservation measure. Poaching ?threatens the future sustainability of the fishery?.

He said blackmarket paua was sold in pre-packaged quantities and said scales were found in the vehicle at Wainui but he stopped short of alleging Taavale?s poaching was a commercial venture.

Judge Saunders told Taavale there was sometimes a suspicion that people were involved in the black market but it was not able to be proved in this case.

He described Taavale as determined and arrogant about his offending, and said he would not impose a fine because he already had $9000 in unpaid fines.

He sentenced him to do 180 hours of community work and ordered all the equipment used to be forfeited. That includes the diving masks, a knife and screwdriver used to open the paua, containers, and the paua themselves. It also includes the truck used at Wainui though Taavale may seek an order to get that back.

Taavale?s associate has also been charged and his case has been remanded to a date in February.