Geekzone: technology news, blogs, forums
Guest
Welcome Guest.
You haven't logged in yet. If you don't have an account you can register now.


Geektastic

17943 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted
Lifetime subscriber

#171994 7-May-2015 22:15
Send private message

So I see on the Herald website that a woman has had her $128,000 Audi forefeited to the Crown for collecting too many cockles....and was fined a further $1,500.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in NZ, drivers placing the rest of us and our families at risk by driving drunk are likely to cop a fine of a couple of hundred dollars at most in many cases.

Just how is it that collecting shellfish attracts greater penalties than drink driving, burglary and so on?! She was not cited as collecting them for sale or anything either.

Seems completely bonkers.





View this topic in a long page with up to 500 replies per page Create new topic
 1 | 2 | 3
linw
2849 posts

Uber Geek


  #1300256 7-May-2015 22:22
Send private message

You're right, poaching penalties are draconian compared with other more heinous crimes. Bit of a mystery, that.



Dratsab
3946 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted
Lifetime subscriber

#1300259 7-May-2015 22:23
Send private message

Would this not happen in the UK? 

MadEngineer
4295 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

  #1300260 7-May-2015 22:25
Send private message

so you think if someone clears a beach of aquatic life they should be slapped with a wet fine of a few hundy?




You're not on Atlantis anymore, Duncan Idaho.



Geektastic

17943 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted
Lifetime subscriber

#1300273 7-May-2015 22:47
Send private message

Dratsab: Would this not happen in the UK? 


We buy food in shops there - we largely gave up living off the land as we moved into the 20th century.....





Geektastic

17943 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted
Lifetime subscriber

  #1300274 7-May-2015 22:49
Send private message

MadEngineer: so you think if someone clears a beach of aquatic life they should be slapped with a wet fine of a few hundy?


I've no idea what a 'hundy' is but if you mean should the fine for picking up meaningless and plentiful  shellfish be less than placing the public at risk through, say, driving whilst drunk then the answer is most assuredly yes.





MadEngineer
4295 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

  #1300280 7-May-2015 23:01
Send private message

The consequences of a dead ocean far outweigh the consequences of a single fatal car crash.

A hundy is $100

What would you suggest the fine for excessive collection of shellfish be worth?




You're not on Atlantis anymore, Duncan Idaho.

networkn
Networkn
32358 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified
Trusted
Lifetime subscriber

  #1300286 7-May-2015 23:06
Send private message

Geektastic: So I see on the Herald website that a woman has had her $128,000 Audi forefeited to the Crown for collecting too many cockles....and was fined a further $1,500.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in NZ, drivers placing the rest of us and our families at risk by driving drunk are likely to cop a fine of a couple of hundred dollars at most in many cases.

Just how is it that collecting shellfish attracts greater penalties than drink driving, burglary and so on?! She was not cited as collecting them for sale or anything either.

Seems completely bonkers.


Well to be fair theft of not easily replaced resources affects a lot more people and for a lot longer than a drink driver who kills someone. 

I am not suggesting Drink Driving deaths aren't tragic or terrible, but if we keep draining the planet of it's resources at the rate we are, there won't be anyone on the roads for drink drivers to kill. 

For the record I strongly support a zero alcohol or drug limit to operate any vehicle. If you can afford to drink you can afford a taxi.


 
 
 

Move to New Zealand's best fibre broadband service (affiliate link). Free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE. Note that to use Quic Broadband you must be comfortable with configuring your own router.
MadEngineer
4295 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

  #1300298 7-May-2015 23:16
Send private message

Agree. Marine life struggles to bounce back, there have been beaches that had been illegally combed for shell fish, now people who return to their childhood beach to collect a few pipis with their kids turn up with buckets and wonder why it's empty

Some fish reserves have been netted out, again by a single event, never to recover. There was one in the Marlborough Sounds my grandad used to take me to and the sea would boil with fish after throwing in a single Alice of bread. Now gone.

Losing a single materialistic car vs marine life that may never recover? Yeah. Could be harsher.




You're not on Atlantis anymore, Duncan Idaho.

Hammerer
2476 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

  #1300306 7-May-2015 23:44
Send private message

Geektastic:
Just how is it that collecting shellfish attracts greater penalties than drink driving, burglary and so on?!


Her punishment seems reasonable to me. Over several decades it has been obvious that the policing of illegal fishing is very difficult - the ministry responsible for fisheries has to rely on the general public reporting those who break the law. That's one reason why the punitive measures have become correspondingly greater.

Just how is that you should use this example and not mention that the article says she had a massive haul for one person:
They found Wei with a large sack containing 1162 cockles and 183 whelks. A further 960 oysters were found in her vehicle.


From your questions I inferred that the article might mention some mitigating factors but it appears there are none. The authorities may not have been able to prove that she was profiting from them by sale or barter but it seems likely that there is a commercial profit driving depredation.



surfisup1000
5288 posts

Uber Geek


  #1300309 7-May-2015 23:51
Send private message

Sounds very fair to me, and she is punished with equal 'hurt' to a poor person driving a $5000 car . Reminds me of Finlands speeding fines based on your income--- the nokia CEO received a $200k speeding fine from memory. 

Species collapse is extremely serious and recovery can take decades. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collapse_of_the_Atlantic_northwest_cod_fishery




Aredwood
3885 posts

Uber Geek


  #1300310 7-May-2015 23:54

Boats and vehicles that are used for illegal fishing have always been forfeited to the crown if you get caught. If she had used a $500 bomb of a car to collect shellfish in she would have only lost that.

Got no problem with her loosing that Audi though.

This has got me thinking - drink drive penalties should be increased to: Forfeit the car you were driving in if caught. And if it is not your car - A fine of the value of that car added onto the original punishment / fine for drink driving.


[edited to add]

Then there are these 2. $40,000 fine for not wearing a helmet on a quad bike and $5,000 fine for doing illegal gasfitting that causes a gas explosion that kills someone.







michael001
160 posts

Master Geek
Inactive user


  #1300333 8-May-2015 06:24
Send private message

Geektastic:

We buy food in shops there - we largely gave up living off the land as we moved into the 20th century.....


And then you fled that country and now live here in New Zealand where fisheries officers confiscate criminals tools in order protect our resources.

What would be 'bonkers' if the fisheries officers turned up at burglaries or started arresting people for drunk driving.




SaltyNZ
8235 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted
2degrees
Lifetime subscriber

  #1300342 8-May-2015 06:59
Send private message

Geektastic: So I see on the Herald website that a woman has had her $128,000 Audi forefeited to the Crown for collecting too many cockles....and was fined a further $1,500.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in NZ, drivers placing the rest of us and our families at risk by driving drunk are likely to cop a fine of a couple of hundred dollars at most in many cases.

Just how is it that collecting shellfish attracts greater penalties than drink driving, burglary and so on?! She was not cited as collecting them for sale or anything either.

Seems completely bonkers.


Well, she should just thank her lucky Key that she wasn't making it slightly easier for other people to copy DVDs. Otherwise military-armed police in helicopters would have descended on her house in a surprise dawn raid and taken everything.




iPad Pro 11" + iPhone 15 Pro Max + 2degrees 4tw!

 

These comments are my own and do not represent the opinions of 2degrees.


MikeB4
18435 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified
Trusted

  #1300348 8-May-2015 07:40
Send private message

Geektastic:
Dratsab: Would this not happen in the UK? 


We buy food in shops there - we largely gave up living off the land as we moved into the 20th century.....


So all those people you see collecting mushrooms etc in the English country or gathering shellfish in the estuaries or fishing are just imaginary.

MikeB4
18435 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified
Trusted

  #1300349 8-May-2015 07:44
Send private message

She got what she deserved, she was greedy and taking from the present and the future.

 1 | 2 | 3
View this topic in a long page with up to 500 replies per page Create new topic





News and reviews »

Air New Zealand Starts AI adoption with OpenAI
Posted 24-Jul-2025 16:00


eero Pro 7 Review
Posted 23-Jul-2025 12:07


BeeStation Plus Review
Posted 21-Jul-2025 14:21


eero Unveils New Wi-Fi 7 Products in New Zealand
Posted 21-Jul-2025 00:01


WiZ Introduces HDMI Sync Box and other Light Devices
Posted 20-Jul-2025 17:32


RedShield Enhances DDoS and Bot Attack Protection
Posted 20-Jul-2025 17:26


Seagate Ships 30TB Drives
Posted 17-Jul-2025 11:24


Oclean AirPump A10 Water Flosser Review
Posted 13-Jul-2025 11:05


Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7: Raising the Bar for Smartphones
Posted 10-Jul-2025 02:01


Samsung Galaxy Z Flip7 Brings New Edge-To-Edge FlexWindow
Posted 10-Jul-2025 02:01


Epson Launches New AM-C550Z WorkForce Enterprise printer
Posted 9-Jul-2025 18:22


Samsung Releases Smart Monitor M9
Posted 9-Jul-2025 17:46


Nearly Half of Older Kiwis Still Write their Passwords on Paper
Posted 9-Jul-2025 08:42


D-Link 4G+ Cat6 Wi-Fi 6 DWR-933M Mobile Hotspot Review
Posted 1-Jul-2025 11:34


Oppo A5 Series Launches With New Levels of Durability
Posted 30-Jun-2025 10:15









Geekzone Live »

Try automatic live updates from Geekzone directly in your browser, without refreshing the page, with Geekzone Live now.



Are you subscribed to our RSS feed? You can download the latest headlines and summaries from our stories directly to your computer or smartphone by using a feed reader.