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A late-night tip-off helped foil suspected scallop poaching in Northland, where gathering the popular seafood is banned.

Residents of the Whangārei Heads gated community, Headland Farm Park, watched on Tuesday night as a “wild chase” took place after Fisheries New Zealand was alerted to suspicious activity in the area.

Fisheries NZ district manager for Northland, Swazi Lal, said it sent fisheries officers to the area after receiving information about possible scallop poaching.

The officers planned to carry out catch inspections because the taking of scallops has been banned in Northland since the fishery was closed in April 2022.

However, when they arrived, two people fled the scene in a ute, Lal said.

Flashing lights and sirens caught the attention of a resident, whose home is 50m away from the beach.

“All of a sudden all hell broke loose,” he said.

The resident saw three utes. Two had flashing lights in their grill, leading him to suspect they were undercover fisheries officers.

The two Fisheries NZ vehicles were pursuing the third ute, which was driving with its back window still open.

The resident believed the men had been surprised by the officers while loading something on to the ute.

“It was a wild chase cross-country,” he said.

“It went up roads, across beaches. I could see it going up the internal road in the Headland Farm Park.”

The chase apparently stopped at the top of the hill in Ridgeway Rd inside the park.

The resident said the pursuit had been brief.

Lal confirmed the pair were quickly apprehended by the fisheries officers.

Property was also seized at the end of the inspection.

“As this is an active investigation, we cannot provide further comment,” Lal said.

Residents were perplexed as to how the men came to have the code to the gate at the park’s entrance.

Northland’s scallop fishery was indefinitely closed in 2022. The previous Government had said the decision was to allow scallop populations to recover.

Whangārei lawyer Michael Badham has legally challenged the inclusion of Whangārei Harbour in the closure on the grounds the Fisheries NZ advice used to inform the decision contained flaws.

The outcome of that is yet to be known.

Fisheries NZ encouraged people who suspect or have information about scallop poaching in the area to contact 0800 4 POACHER (0900 476 224).