Poacher pays ‘high price’ for trout from hatchery

Trout poached from Fish & Game’s Ngongotaha hatchery were “anything but a free feed” for a Rotorua teenager who has paid dearly for his catch.
Nineteen year-old Duncan Scowen pleaded guilty in the Rotorua District Court to charges of fishing in hatchery ponds without a licence and being on the grounds unlawfully.
He was fined a total of $700, as well as prosecution and court costs.
Fish & Game says that action has also been taken against three other people.
The court heard that Scowen and his associates had entered the hatchery grounds after hours on four separate occasions in January this year, and “helped themselves” to fishing in the ponds, including one set aside for children’s ‘fish out’ days.
Fish & Game Regional Manager Andy Garrick says the offending was foolish in the extreme as the site is well protected by surveillance cameras which captured exactly what was happening.
“The group obviously believed they could get away with such blatantly cheeky poaching.”
As a result of the incidents, security on site has been increased even further to protect hatchery operations from this sort of invasion, Mr Garrick says.
Meanwhile, an arrest warrant has been issued in the Wairoa District Court for a 49 year-old Auckland man facing charges of illegal gill netting at Hopuruahine at Lake Waikaremoana.
He also faced counts of taking rainbow and brown trout without a licence.
Fish & Game staff say the alleged poaching happened just after Christmas in an isolated part of Lake Waikaremona in Te Urewera.
Top right - brown trout in a gill net found at Lake Waikaremoana.
The case was initially handed by Police who handed it on to Fish & Game who investigated and issued a summons.
Mr Garrick says that while incidents of this nature are relatively uncommon, Fish & Game regards the use of gill nets to poach trout as serious offending.
“Nets are completely indiscriminate and can result in considerable damage not just to the trout fishery, but to other fish and bird species which may become tangled in a net.”
Mr Garrick says that “nets also pose a hazard to other water users – a boat propeller for example tangled in a net can have serious consequences”.
Categories
Archive
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- December 2013
- March 2013
- September 2012
- July 2012