新西兰英语 231 Paua Poaching

　　Paua poachers are fish thieves, says the Ministry¹ of Fishing. They steal paua which should belong to everyone.
Paua are shell fish which are called abalone in the US. You find them on rocks all around New Zealand, at low tide, usually in water just a few metres deep. A paua has one shell. It is oval² in shape and on the outside is grey, a bit like the rock that it sticks to. It sticks to the rock very tightly³ by the black foot inside the shell. This is the meat part which you eat. When you take out the meat, the inside shell is beautiful, with colours of blue, green and purple. This is often used for jewellery. The black-foot paua can grow up to 180mm. New Zealand is the only country with these paua so we have to be careful to protect these shell fish.
The limit for taking paua is 10 per day for each person who is fishing. They have to be at least 125mm across the longest part. You cannot use underwater diving equipment. You cannot sell paua. You must keep them in the shell so that officers can check the size.
This holiday weekend, Ministry of Fisheries officers found many people who were poaching paua in Taranaki, on the west coast of the North Island. Three men had a bag with 150 paua, and another three men had 701 paua. Other people were carrying sacks⁴ but there were not enough officers to catch everyone. Some local people called the Ministry of Fisheries on 0800 4 POACHER, to tell them about poachers.
Poachers can be fined $250,000 and lose their car, or even go to prison if they are found guilty.

1 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

2 oval   

n. 椭圆，椭圆形跑道；adj. 卵形的，椭圆形的

参考例句：

• She has a lovely oval face.她长着一张可爱的椭圆脸。
• The shape of the earth is an oval.地球的形状是个椭圆形。

3 tightly   

adv.紧紧地，坚固地，牢固地

参考例句：

• My child holds onto my hand tightly while we cross the street.横穿马路时，孩子紧拉着我的手不放。
• The crowd pressed together so tightly that we could hardly breathe.人群挤在一起，我们几乎喘不过气来。

4 sacks   

洗劫( sack的名词复数 )； 大袋； 麻袋； 床

参考例句：

• Help me to load the sacks onto the cart. 帮我把货装到这辆车上。
• The sacks of rice were swarming with bugs. 一袋袋的米里长满了虫子。