Subj : Otago pair sentenced for illegal Facebook paua sales
To   : All
From : News
Date : Thu Apr 11 2024 11:54 am

A North Otago couple have been ordered to do a combined 360 hours of
community service and have been placed on 12 months supervision for online
sales of poached paua.

The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) said in a statement this morning
Sheryl Maafu, 49, and Niuila Maafu, 59, were sentenced in the Oamaru District
Court yesterday on a joint charge of illegally selling paua under the
Fisheries Act.

"Sheryl Maafu was ordered to do 200 hours community work, while Niuila Maafu
was ordered to do 160 hours community work.

"A 2019 Ford Ranger and a 2021 Hyundai Santa Fe, along with a range of diving
gear, was forfeited to the Crown."

MPI said the pair sold paua meals through a Facebook site and "obtained
customary permits for fictitious birthday events to gather paua".

Fisheries New Zealand's Ian Henderson said "it's illegal to sell
recreationally caught seafood and the Maafus knew this".

"They also broke the trust of a tangata tiaki by gaining customary permits
for various birthday events that never happened - yet they gathered and kept
the paua."

MPI said that in May 2023, a fishery officer became aware of a package being
couriered from Oamaru that contained paua. The package was intercepted and
found to contain about 12kgs of minced paua.

"Fisheries NZ was also tipped off about an online site owned by Sheryl Maafu
called Always Kingdom Fundraiser which was advertising meals for sale,
including creamed paua for $10 a meal.

"After a Fisheries NZ investigation was launched, search warrants executed in
June 2023 at two premises in Kakanui and Oamaru and the bank accounts of
Sheryl Maafu were examined.

"At the Kakanui building investigators found 139 shucked paua of which 129
were less than the legal size. At the Oamaru property they found 513 paua
shells of which 442 were less than the legal size."

In July 2023, fishery officers interviewed the pair about poaching paua.

"They admitted illegally selling recreationally gathered paua through online
Facebook sales which they were doing by either cash or bank deposits. Sheryl
Maafu, who organised the customary authorisations, told us she knew what she
was doing," Henderson said.

In total, investigators found 621 ordinary black foot paua shells. In 2023
this amount of paua, based on the minimum shellfish size, had a commercial
retail value of $8281.

Additionally, 22.65kgs of paua that was seized from the Maafus held a
commercial value of $3827.

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