Crayfish tails seized

Press, 16 August 1976, Page 1

Crayfish tails seized

The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries has confiscated about 18 tonnes of illegal crayfish tails, after a routine inspection by a team of fisheries inspectors of a Christchurch cool store.

Initially 2j tonnes were seized, but some of the tails were found to be legal and were returned to the company concerned. The total consignment, worth $lOO,OOO and weighing 10 tonnes, was awaiting shipment to the United States. The seized tails had been “scrubbed.” This is a term used by fisheries officers to describe female tails from which eggs have been removed. In New Zealand it is illegal to take females which are carrying eggs, and also illegal to remove eggs artificially.

The tails had been “scrubbed” at sea. It was illegal to land them, and illegal to process them in a factory, said Mr W. J. Gillespie, a senior fisheries inspector with the Ministry of Agriculture and

Fisheries in Christchurch. Although fishermen had been discovered at times “scrubbing” small quantities of tails, this was thought to be the first time it had happened on a large scale. It would take time to complete inquiries and sort through the documentation, said Mr Gillespie, but in due course legal action would be taken against those responsible. In the meantime it would be up to his head office in Wellington to decide the fate of the seized tails. It was normal in such a situation for an agent to be appointed to sell them either here or overseas. “The Government has this discretion, and the money will go into the Consolidated Fund," he said.