A man who took four times the legal limit of paua then gave fishery officers false information has been fined $3100.
He was charged with possessing undersized paua, possession of three times the legal limit of paua, giving false particulars and failing to comply with a fisheries officer at Bluff on July 18 last year.
Appearing for the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI), lawyer Sarah McKenzie provided Judge John Brandts-Giesen with affidavits from MPI fishery officers Jamie Vuglar and Mark Raynes outlining the details of the charges.
Matthews was spotted carrying a backpack by the officers as he returned to his car at Ocean Beach last year.
The officers stopped him and asked to check the contents of his backpack.
Inside they found 41 paua (the legal daily limit is 10 per fisher), 40 of which were under the 125mm minimum size.
When asked for his details, Matthews gave a false name, address, phone number and birth date. He did not supply his driver’s licence when asked.
"It was established in her evidence that Mr Matthews did not have customary authorisation and he claimed to have taken eight of the paua in his possession with the others collected by another three people," Judge Brandts-Giesen said.
The fishery officers were eventually able to track him down through the rental car company he had hired the car from. He did not live in Hamilton but instead the suburb of Windsor in Invercargill.
When he was contacted later, he gave his correct details to MPI.
After reading the two affidavits yesterday Judge Brandts-Giesen confirmed the charges had been proved.
He fined Matthews $3100, court costs of $520 and solicitors’ fees of $500.
