Mr Street (83) said he wanted all paua divers to unite and boost paua stocks by reseeding paua beds in Otago and Southland.
Paua larvae had eight days to find a suitable surface to settle and grow, like under a boulder, but often failed to find a suitable habitat and fewer than 1% of larvae survived, he said.
Humans could help ''nurture'' paua by assisting nature, he said.
Paua larvae could be reared in cages and released in a suitable habitat when they were 12mm-15mm long.
''If everything is left to nature, only a few would settle in the right area and survive, but by human intervention, and putting up structures to collect those surplus larvae and then on-growing them, we can reseed.''
He led a successful paua reseeding trial, commissioned by Area 5 Paua Management Company (PauaMac 5), of 5000 fingernail-sized paua larvae at Papatowai in the Catlins in 2005, he said.
The larvae were reared in a Stewart Island hatchery and released in the wild at 15mm long and had grown up to 85mm long in 41 months.
''In a fast-growing area, they would reach legal minimum size [125mm] in about six or seven years.''
What was proven at Papatowai could happen on a broader scale with the financial assistance of commercial paua industry to ensure the sustainability of the fishery, he said.
PauaMac 5 chairman Storm Stanley said the company commissioned reseeding programmes until about three years ago.
It spent about $100,000 on the programmes annually, which was too expensive for the results, he said.
The paua survival rates ''looked good'' but the results were not ''compelling enough'' for the cost.
Reseeding was ''one tool'' among many for controlling paua stock, he said.
''If you have a fishery that's in trouble, then you manage it right, and that is what we consider we are doing. When we are quite happy that the fisheries are all humming along in really good condition, we'll look at it again as a tool to bulk it out a bit.''
The company was always open to discussing with customary and recreational fishers ways to find the best mix of management approaches for ''our shared fishery''.
Paua to the People spokesman Lloyd McGinty said a public meeting would be held in the Portobello Hall tomorrow at 7pm.
The meeting would gather submissions opposing a Primary Industries Ministry proposal to open up closed areas of coastline, from the Waitaki River to the Waiau River, to commercial paua divers. Only people who wanted those areas to remain closed to commercial divers would be welcome at the meeting, he said.
