A black market shellfish ring has been busted in Bay of Plenty.

After a year spent monitoring illegal activity, fisheries officers moved in over the past two days and seized paua, dive gear and electronic equipment across the region.

The Ministry for Primary Industries alleges the black market ring was centred around Motiti Island, off the coast of Tauranga, where divers gathered paua and kina and sold them to a network of buyers in Tauranga, Whakatane, Hamilton and Auckland.

A Tauranga food business is alleged to have been involved.

Fisheries officers and police seized two freezers containing more than 100 kilograms of paua, worth 15 thousand dollars.