Paua poachers are fish thieves, says the Ministry of Fishing. They steal paua which should belong to everyone.
Paua are shell fish which are called abalone in the US. You find them on rocks all around New Zealand, at low tide, usually in water just a few metres deep. A paua has one shell. It is oval in shape and on the outside is grey, a bit like the rock that it sticks to. It sticks to the rock very tightly by the black foot inside the shell. This is the meat part which you eat. When you take out the meat, the inside shell is beautiful, with colours of blue, green and purple. This is often used for jewellery. The black-foot paua can grow up to 180mm. New Zealand is the only country with these paua so we have to be careful to protect these shell fish.
The limit for taking paua is 10 per day for each person who is fishing. They have to be at least 125mm across the longest part. You cannot use underwater diving equipment. You cannot sell paua. You must keep them in the shell so that officers can check the size.
This holiday weekend, Ministry of Fisheries officers found many people who were poaching paua in Taranaki, on the west coast of the North Island. Three men had a bag with 150 paua, and another three men had 701 paua. Other people were carrying sacks but there were not enough officers to catch everyone. Some local people called the Ministry of Fisheries on 0800 4 POACHER, to tell them about poachers.
Poachers can be fined $250,000 and lose their car, or even go to prison if they are found guilty.