21 Aug 2015

Banned fisherman receives home detention over illegal paua

5:11 pm on 21 August 2015

A Kaikohe man has been sentenced to six months' home detention for taking illegal paua while banned from fishing.

Daniel Elvis Moke, 32, was sentenced yesterday in the Kaikohe District Court.

He had earlier admitted flouting a banning order, and further charges of having undersize paua and more than the daily recreational limit.

Moke was also fined $1500 and will forfeit his vehicle.

He was banned from fishing for three years in April 2012, under a section dealing with repeat offenders.

Last December Moke was part of a group of five stopped at Kawerua that had 247 paua between them.

The daily limit for paua is 10 per person and he admitted taking 28.

The Northland compliance manager for the Ministry of Primary Industries, Steve Rudsdale, said Moke's sentence showed the court took repeat fishing offences very seriously.