Several businesses in Otago were among those hit by a covert Ministry of Fisheries operation aimed at catching dealers buying and selling fish illegally.
Twenty-seven businesses across the mid and lower South Island, from the West Coast to Invercargill, were visited and people associated with them interviewed, the Ministry of Fisheries announced yesterday.
In Otago, operations were held in Balclutha, Queenstown, Dunedin and Oamaru.
Ministry Otago field operations manager Murray Pridham said the operations gave staff the ability to test the information they received about illegal selling of fish and see how big a problem the region had.
Normal monitoring of fish dealers uncovered illegal activity from time to time but those involved became conditioned to it, so illegal activity was hard to detect, he said.
"Hopefully, this will have had a deterrent effect on anyone attempting to profit from the sale of fish."
The ministry's Canterbury-Westland field operations manager Peter Hyde said in each town fisheries officers ran a covert operation selling fish in a manner the people who were buying it would have known it was illegal.
"In saying this, a lot did turn it away, which was pleasing."
The commercial operators were mainly from fish and chip shops and restaurants, he said.
Ministry national manager regional services Dean Baigent said fish species involved were paua, blue cod, elephant fish and other finfish.
The fish supplied was mainly intended for sale through the businesses but in some cases was for the buyer's own use.
"Most of the sales were conducted at unusual times or in unusual places and without any dockets or sales invoices - these are required under fisheries legislation."
It was illegal to buy fish without proper documentation to support the transaction and only fish from a commercial source could be sold.
There were still inquiries to be made in relation to the operations and then decisions would be made on what charges would be laid, he said.
Penalties for Fisheries Act offences, which include buying and selling illegal fish, include imprisonment for up to five years, fines up to $250,000 and forfeiture of fish and property used in the offending.
