A woman who took more than 2300 shellfish has had to hand over the keys to her $130,000 car as punishment.
Xiaojuan Wei from east Auckland was caught with almost 1200 cockles, 183 whelks and almost 1000 oysters in June 2014.
When inspected, it was found she had gathered 1,162 cockles, 183 whelks and a further 960 oysters were located in their vehicle.
The legal limit is 50 cockles and 50 oysters or whelks.
A member from the public alerted authorities to her haul and when fisheries staff approached her she tried to hide one of the large sacks.
She admitted the charge in the Manukau District Court yesterday and was fined $1500 and told to hand over her Audi Q7 worth $128,000.