P.M.’s denial on paua

Press, 14 June 1984, Page 8

P.M.’s denial on paua

Mr Wast said from Invercargill last evening that claims that he had been given new paua licences through Prime Ministerial interference were incorrect. Mr Wast said he had held the licences for 10 or more years.

An embargo had been put on paua which said that it had to be exported in cans, he said. That meant fisherman had to send their paua to Nelson or the North Island to be canned. Mr Wast said all he was trying to do was to get a permit to export fresh-fro-zen glazed paua from Bluff, which would be good for Southland. “All that is different is that I am not sending them north. I am exporting them from Southland,” he said. Negotiations for the relaxation of the embargo had been going on for the last five years, he said.

His three local members of Parliament, especially the member for Wallace, Mr D. A. Angus, had helped him considerably during the time.

The director of Ministry of Fisheries research, Dr Robin Allen, said a report on paua stocks compiled during the last two years showed paua was being over-fished.

The completion of the report had been brought forward because of the issue of the new licences. He expected the report this week.

Dr Allen expected a management plan, possibly involving closed seasons or quotas, to be compiled.

“We would want something to restrain the total catch,” he said.