A senior manager at Civil Defence has been fined 15 hundred dollars after being caught with five times the daily paua limit

Open Justice reports Kumeroa Tuhaka was stopped by fishery officers in September while gathering shellfish at Anchorage Bay near Akaroa - an area of significance to local tangata whenua.

The 39-year-old had 26 black foot paua - all but one below the minimum legal size.

Tuhaka claimed he hadn't counted the shellfish and had measured them by sight.

He also told officers he had limited knowledge of the rules - believing he could gather the paua on behalf of a group to feed his family.