Fisheries officers have made their largest paua bust in Auckland in more than a decade.

The Ministry for Primary Industries has found four people in possession of 260 undersized paua, most of which were shucked.

Two junior fisheries officers made the bust near Cornwallis Wharf in west Auckland earlier this week, while on routine late night patrol.

MPI spokesman Jacob Hore says the paua were all dead by the time the officers found them.

He says if their shells hadn't been removed, the officers would have been able to measure them and return them to the sea.