By HELEN MURDOCH – The Press | Saturday, 03 January 2009

A traditional summer feed of paua fresh from a rocky Kiwi coastline is under threat from poachers.

Paua is now extinct in many New Zealand bays, with plundering poachers clearing whole populations.

Paua Industry Council chief executive Jeremy Cooper said the industry had the ability to boost paua numbers to pre-commercial levels and carry out rotational farming. However, poachers were taking 40 per cent of the annual commercial 1058-tonne harvest and would make “ocean ranching” uneconomic.

About 400 tonne of paua were being taken by poachers from New Zealand’s coastlines every year.

Most was destined for Asian restaurants.

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Filed under: Ali Perkins, News/Current Affairs