May 17 (Bloomberg) -- Scott Bernie, a New Zealand fisheries officer, kicks a pile of abalone shells at Oteranga Bay, evidence poachers have visited the site west of Wellington. Barred from carrying a weapon, he wears a knife-proof vest for protection.

``Over there, a possum hunter came across four blokes poaching abalone,'' says Bernie, 28. ``They had five huge sacks full and pulled a knife on him. Luckily he had his gun.''

New Zealand gangs have stepped up poaching of abalone, a popular delicacy at Chinese banquets, endangering breeding stocks and driving down export prices. About $29 million of the country's black-lipped gastropods, known by their Maori name, paua, were smuggled out last year, almost matching the legal trade, says Ed Arron, chairman of the Paua Industry Council.

Poachers are taking advantage of the nation's 15,000- kilometer (9,400-mile) coastline to evade inspectors and licensed divers, who pay about $293,000 a metric ton to catch abalone under a government quota program. With stocks shrinking, illegal catches include increasing numbers of undersize or immature abalone.

``You can't take twice the total allowances year after year and expect the fishery to sustain that,'' says Arron, 49, whose Wellington-based council represents 400 divers and license- holders. ``New Zealand could be closed to commercial paua fishing in 10 to 20 years.''

Stocks in the south, the main abalone region, have declined by as much as 40 percent in seven years, Fisheries Ministry figures show.

Fishermen want penalties toughened to include mandatory jail sentences because they say fines aren't deterring poachers. Abalone can fetch as much as $1,000 a kilogram ($455 a pound) in Asia, according to WWF, the international conservation group.

Five Years' Jail

Poachers may be fined NZ$250,000 ($183,000) and jailed for five years. Ross Thurston, 56, a policeman-turned-fisheries patrolman, says courts typically impose fines of NZ$1,000 to NZ$3,000 and confiscate boats, cars and diving gear.

``One poacher we came across put NZ$30,000 to NZ$40,000 away each year in anticipation of the fines,'' says Dave Baker, a professional diver. ``These people just pay it.''

In Baker's fishing zone at the top of the South Island, some stocks have declined by 70 percent since 1966, he says.

Poachers worldwide have decimated the shellfish, which attach themselves to rocks and reefs from low-water marks to a depth of about 6 meters (20 feet).

The illegal trade in one South African species, known as perlemoen, is worth an annual $72 million, says Markus Burgener, a WWF spokesman in Johannesburg.

Perlemoen was listed under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species this year, meaning sellers must prove their catch was legally harvested.

Californian Species

California's white abalone was declared an endangered species in 2001, according to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Black abalone have all but disappeared from the Pacific Coast, says Brian Tissot, a marine scientist at Washington State University, Vancouver.

Most of the shellfish land in Hong Kong, Taiwan, China and Japan, the WWF's Burgener says. ``As China grows in wealth, the demand for abalone is only going to grow,'' he says.

Abalone was first served on the tables of China's Qing Dynasty, which ruled from 1644 to 1911, says Manying Ip, professor of Asian studies at the University of Auckland.

It was viewed as rare because most cities were inland, she says. High-protein content increased its lure.

The shellfish remain a feature of Chinese banquets to celebrate weddings, anniversaries and business deals.

``It's a mark of sumptuousness and how much you respect your guests,'' Ip says. ``Like putting a whole turkey in the middle of the table.''

Garlic and Ginger

Peking House, a Chinese restaurant in Wellington, serves slivers of abalone in a bath of garlic, mushrooms, ginger and shallots. Prices range from NZ$88 to NZ$100.

Less than 1 percent of New Zealand's annual catch is eaten in the country, Arron says. Licensed divers harvest about 400 tons of meat a year.

Divers such as Baker, who has a 24-ton annual quota that fetches about NZ$500,000, can come to blows with poachers.

``We've almost been rammed a couple of times, and we did a citizen's arrest on one poacher,'' says Baker, 57, who employs five divers. ``It can be a bit like Miami Vice,'' a U.S. television series about undercover detectives.

Bigger Patrols

The Fisheries Ministry has increased the number of officers on patrol by 30 percent to 104 since 2002, says Shaun Driscoll, head of a 42-person team investigating organized poaching.

Officers laid charges or assessed fines in 713 instances from July 2005 to June last year, Driscoll says. Since December, they have caught 682 rustlers.

Divers typically use knives to pry abalone loose. The number of attempted assaults with a weapon against fisheries officers more than quadrupled to 79 in 2005 from 1999 -- almost the same number as for police -- according to the officers' union.

``We applied to get pepper spray and batons but it was denied,'' says officer Bernie, heading down a dirt road to Wellington. ``At the end of the day, every potential poacher you confront has at least a knife.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Emma O'Brien in Wellington at eobrien6@bloomberg.net .