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DOC/Supplied
The first time the man was caught, he was in possession of 21 illegally caught snapper.
An Auckland man has been fined $4000 after being caught fishing for snapper in a marine reserve – in what the Department of Conservation (DOC) has called one of the most serious cases of offending they’ve seen.
The man, who was granted interim name suppression in the North Shore District Court on Wednesday, caught at least 24 snapper, seven of which were undersized, at the Long Bay-Okura marine reserve.
The catch limit in a marine reserves is zero.
Had the snapper not been caught in a marine reserve, the catch would have been three times over the legal limit.
He pleaded guilty to three counts of fishing in a marine reserve, one count of taking pāua in excess and one count of using a set net in a prohibited area.
In October 2022, the man and a friend were fishing in a dinghy, before coming back to shore and hiding a suitcase of pāua behind a rock.
After questioning by fisheries authorities, the man revealed the suitcase – which had 117 undersized pāua in it.
The man was first stopped in relation to the snapper on March 24, 2022, after a DOC ranger was told someone was fishing in the marine reserve.
Police caught up with him when he was returning to his car, where he showed the officer three legal-sized snapper.
When asked if he had caught anything else, the man revealed a further 18 snapper, some of which were undersized.
DOC/Supplied
The man used a kayak to access remote parts of the Long Bay-Okura Marine Reserve.
On a second occasion, a DOC ranger spotted the man on a telephoto lens while patrolling the marine reserve.
The man had used a kayak to access a remote part of the reserve, but efforts to stop him when he came back failed, so it’s unknown how many fish he had caught.
On the final occasion, the man was stopped on June 25, 2022, while he was with a child.
The man claimed that he hadn’t been fishing, but playing on the beach with his son.
A DOC ranger searched his kayak and found several snapper inside.
DOC investigations team lead Dylan Swain said the case was the most serious they had dealt with in a very long time.
Abigail Dougherty/Stuff
Goat Island Marine reserve in Auckland has had issues with poachers fishing inside the marine reserve despite it being illegal and ruining the marine life in the Hauraki Gulf. (Video first published December 23, 2021)
“[The sentencing] sends a clear message to anyone wanting to act illegally in our protected areas – we can and will take action”.
Fishing in a marine reserve ruins the natural state of the environment and means the rest of the public aren’t able to enjoy it, Swain said.
“There are plenty of ways to explore our natural marine environment without illegally taking.”
During sentencing, Judge Glubb said that by taking the fish from the marine reserve, the man was impacting everyone who might benefit from that environment.
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