Scientists have helped convict seven people and a Bay of Plenty fishing company, for illegally selling nearly 700 kg of paua over a 13 month period. Dr Karyne Rogers, a Senior Scientist with GNS Science, in Gracefield, Lower Hutt explains how her team used stable isotope analysis to pinpoint exactly where it had been poached from. The black market paua that was seized represented almost a third of the allowable commercial catch in the local fishery zone which includes the Bay of Plenty, Auckland, Northland and the Waikato.