PAUA SHELLFISH

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24799, 13 February 1946, Page 6

PAUA SHELLFISH

DEPARTMENT TO ENFORCE REGULATIONS

Paua shellfish beds throughout New Zealand have been exploited to such an extent for commercial purposes in the last few years that the fishery section of the Marine Department has decided that the regulations which class the paua as a fish will be enforced rigidly in the future. This means that the shellfish can now be marketed and sold by licensed fishermen only. It was explained last night by • marine fishery inspector that in the past the regulations had been regarded lightly in the case of practically all shellfish except oysters, which were marketed extensively. During the war years, however, the commercial value of the paua shell had increased so greatly that most of the easily accessible beds were being cleared. As souvenirs and mementoes, articles made from the shell proved popular items with visiting servicemen. A large number were sent overseas, especially to the United States, and it was apparent that the demands from that country for paua shells was still large. About 13 years ago, a well-estab-lished South Island manufacturer was able to buy shells for 5s a large sack, the inspector said. In the war years when the demand increased, the prices gradually rose to £2 10s a sack. As the beds were skimmed the shells became more and more difficult to obtain, and prices soared as high as £6 for a sugar-bag. After that they were being sold in dozen lots. The present price lists showed that as much as 10S was offered for a single shell of particularly high quality. Values varied from 10s down to 4d for poor quality shells.