Paua poachers sentenced to 500 hours' community work | Northland News | Local News in Northland

Two Far North men will spend 500 hours working in their community after they were nabbed with hundreds of undersize paua.

The penalty has been applauded by fisheries officers who say paua stocks on the West Coast of Northland are "at risk".

Fisheries officers patrolling remote coastline near Kawerua, north of Dargaville, stopped the duo who were on a quad motorbike with 222 paua between them. Only eight paua were a legal size.

Chanz Handley, 32, solo parent, and Mihaka Waipouri, 35, unemployed, appeared in Kaikohe District Court, last week after pleading guilty to charges of possessing excess and undersize paua.

The two Hokianga men had been free diving for paua when they were stopped by fisheries officers. The daily limit for paua is 10 per diver, with a minimum size of 125mm.

Handley was caught with 117 paua, with only seven legal-sized shellfish. He explained he had not counted or measured the paua and they were for his family.

Waipouri's bag had 105 paua, with only one making the grade. He told the officers they were for his daughter's birthday.

Handley was sentenced to 200 hours' community service while Waipouri, who has previous convictions for breaking fisheries laws, faces 300 hours' work.

All the gear used by the men to gather the paua was seized.

Northland district compliance manager Darren Edwards said the sentences sent a clear message to people plundering the paua fishery that they would be caught.

"Offending on this scale is placing huge pressure on the paua fishery which is already extremely fragile here in Northland," Mr Edwards said.

It was not uncommon for those stopped by fisheries officers to have more than three times the daily limit of paua.

As a result of the continued offending and pressure, the Ministry had increased its level of patrolling in an attempt to protect the fishery.

"Fishery officers cannot be everywhere and we are reliant on information from the public."