Hamilton couple Tony Magner and Ying Qiu illegally sold 35kg of crayfish caught with a customary permit

Hamilton man Tony Wagner, together with his wife Ying Qiu, have each been fined $5000 for selling 32kg of crayfish caught with a customary permit. Photo / Facebook

• Tony Te Tahiwi Magner was granted Māori customary fishing permits to catch crayfish for two hui.
• But, Magner and his wife Ying Qiu went on to illegally sell 35kg of the crays to a restaurateur on two occasions.
• They have now been fined $5000 each in the Hamilton District Court following a rare prosecution.

A businessman who used his Māori customary fishing permit to commercially fish for two tonnes of crayfish, some of which was then illegally sold to a restaurant for profit, says he’s embarrassed by what he has done.

Tony Te Tahiwi Magner and his wife Ying Qiu were caught out by Fisheries officers who were doing routine inspections of customary authorisation details.

Now Magner is facing the consequences of his actions, telling NZME he admits what he did was wrong and will take a break doing customary permit work for Ngāti Maniapoto, but plans to remain involved in other aspects of iwi work.

The Hamilton couple on-sold a total of 35kg of crayfish, worth $2800, on two occasions in 2022.

Ironically, in the first offence, Magner, stated he needed a tonne of crayfish for a “Hui-A-Iwi” to be held at the Maniaroa Marae in Te Kūiti on August 20. The 68-year-old later told fisheries officers that the Hui-A-Iwi was a working bee.

But, Ministry for Primary Industries staff eventually discovered that the marae was booked for another event that day – a rāhui ceremony to discuss “banning the taking of all shellfish and crayfish”.

“Hence there was no crayfish at this hui,” court documents state.

‘Cash came in for Crays’

Customary fishing authorisations can allow the taking of fish or shellfish in excess of daily limits for the purpose of hui or a tangi. The area involved in this permit stretched from Waipingao Stream in Northern Taranaki to the Waikwau Tunnel, Waikato.

Where a rohe moana is gazetted, nobody other than those appointed as kaitiaki/tiaki can authorise the permit.

The court heard that after Magner was granted a permit for a hut on August 20 a commercial fisherman went out and caught about 100 crayfish, or between 80 and 100kg.

While the permit was being organised and the crayfish being caught, his wife liaised with the buyer she knew who went on to pay $741.75 for between 7kg-8kg of the rock lobster.

Once payment was confirmed she sent a screenshot of the transaction on August 22 to Magner stating: “darling, this money is the crayfish money”.

He replied, “thank you so much”.

Magner replied to her later that day, “Cash came in for Crays”.

In September, the kaitiaki issued another permit for another tonne of crayfish for the “Hui-A-Iwi” at Magner’s house.

The same buyer, who owns a restaurant, paid $2160 into Magner’s bank account for between 24kg and 27kg.

Qui sent another screenshot and left him a voicemail saying, “Darling this money is the crayfish money have you seen the money come through?”.

He replied saying, “Thanks darling it just came today”.

MPI say the area which Tony Magner had customary rights to commercially fish is in the dark blue. However, Magner says their iwi are entitled to fish in the whole of CRA9. Photo / Supplied

Two other permits were issued the following year on January 25, 2023, and August 14, 2023. However, geospatial positional reporting of the commercial fishing boat showed no crayfishing occurred in the kaitiaki’s authorisation area during either day.

Neither of the couple was licensed under the Fisheries Act to catch, buy, sell, possess, or otherwise deal with crayfish or any other seafood.

Once fisheries officers began investigating, they made several attempts to contact Qui; including giving Magner a letter addressed to her on June 2, last year. The same letter was then translated into Mandarin and placed in their letterbox on June 5.

She ignored all requests and was subsequently charged.

‘It was not a cunning plan’

Magner and his wife were prosecuted and appeared in the Hamilton District Court on Monday for sentencing on a total of five charges; two each of being in possession of crayfish for the purpose of sale, while Qiu, 60, admitted an additional charge of failing to attend an interview with fisheries officers.

The charges carry a maximum penalty of $250,000 and/or a community-based sentence.

Fisheries New Zealand northern regional manager fisheries compliance, Andre Espinoza told NZME a prosecution of this type is relatively rare.

“Cases involving misuse of a customary authorisation are not common.

“We discovered the offending through some routine inspections of customary authorisation details.”

The kaitiaki, or guardian, who authorised the permit on behalf of the Marae committee, has also been charged but is going through the Te Pae Oranga process, which if completed successfully might see the charges withdrawn.

In court, Magner and Qiu’s lawyer, Marty Logan, said Magner had a background in fisheries.

He was involved in cultural matters with Maniapoto Iwi and “done extensive work in a hui circuit”, whereby a couple of times a year he would obtain fish pursuant to the customary permit.

He would then take “them all around the rohe and he’s done that for many years, but on these two occasions he accepts that he fell from grace, as it were, and sold some of the crayfish that had been taken for the cultural purpose”.

“He received, with his wife, a payment for $2800.”

He suggested a fine of $5000 which could then be split between them.

“The income they made is shared between the two of them and the fine is paid from joint resources.

“This matter can be dealt with by way of a fine. There was a suggestion of community work but the defendants can pay a fine within the realms of what’s been suggested.”

He said Qui didn’t have any role in sourcing the fish, rather just selling it, so he suggested she could be given a lower fine.

“She didn’t have any role in the selling of the fish and was guided by her husband.”

Magner had already suffered “a considerable amount of embarrassment and angst” by what he’d done.

“It’s not just him, it’s dragged in other people, his wife, it’s dragged in the commercial fisherman, who’s not been charged obviously but he was part of the investigation and also the kaitiaki who granted the customary permit.

“She has been investigated and charges laid which Mr Magner takes pretty personally and feels sorry for.”

Logan said the kaitiaki had issued the permits “in good faith”.

“They thought they were doing it for proper purposes.

“The permit refers to a single event.”

Magner would meet with members of the iwi of the rohe and leave koha in the form of crayfish.

“Mr Magner knew he shouldn’t have done it, it’s not the intended purpose of the permit.”

“It’s an unusual situation. You have a genuine purpose, with an aspect of a small amount sold that shouldn’t have been.

“It was not a cunning plan. It was just done on the spur of the moment.”

However, MPI prosecutor Kevin Herlihy said given the maximum penalty, and the offending involved, the fine should be between $5000 and $8000 each.

He said Magner was more involved in sourcing the crayfish permit from the kaitiaki, while Qui sold it through her contact.

Judge Cocurullo agreed the incidents were a “joint enterprise” and was satisfied that he could treat them equally.

He fined them each $5000. On her charge of failing to attend the interview, Qui was convicted and discharged.

Hamilton man Tony Wagner, together with his wife Ying Qiu, have each been fined $5000 for selling 35kg of crayfish caught with a customary permit.

‘I was a dumbass’

Magner was quick to fess up to his actions when he sat down for a chat with NZME today.

“I’m just a dumbass.”

He said a friend of his wife owned a Chinese restaurant in Hamilton.

When he learned Magner was involved in fisheries, he talked him – through his wife – into getting some crayfish.

“I just wanted him to go away, so I said, ‘here you go’, and shut the door.”

The man had since sold his restaurant and gone back to China.

Magner said the prosecution had brought embarrassment but he believes he still had the support of the iwi.

He said his arm was twisted to accept the payment as he would put it towards the cost of petrol used up in his approximate 400km round-trip visit to members of the iwi in the rohe.

During each visit, he said he would leave one crayfish per adult and they would discuss a variety of matters including, working bee plans for marae, cleanup of urupā, catch-up on tangi arrangements, or trustee appointments to marae committees.

He said he’s so well-known now when he turns up to events, people go straight to the boot of his car to see what he’s brought as koha.

“I will be lucky to get a hello. They would be in my boot,” he laughed.

Magner said the customary fishing permits came about as a result of Covid, due to whānau struggling.

He made trips to whānau twice a year and would koha the crayfish and described it as ahi kā, which meant “keeping the home fires burning” or maintaining good whānau relationships.

However, a sticking point remains; Magner says he understood the kaitiaki had authority for crayfish to be taken from the whole CRA9 area which includes off the Taranaki coast, and where the prosecuted rock lobsters were sourced.

The CRA9 area includes about a dozen different iwi.

But MPI maintain the kaitiaki could only issue authority for a section of beach near Whitecliffs to Waikawau Tunnel.

Magner said it’s an issue that will continue to be discussed among the iwi committee and MPI.

He also disputed aspects of the summary of facts which outlined the first set of offending.

He said the hui went ahead but at his sister’s property nearby and showed NZME a list of whānau and iwi gifted crayfish on his visit to the area.

‘A life in fisheries’

Magner’s work in fisheries stretches decades.

As a student he worked for Sanford’s in the Bay of Plenty, unloading boats, and working 30-hour shifts.

He’s spent most of his adult life working in management roles for various iwi commercial enterprises including iwi fishing companies.

In the early 2000s, he was the general manager of Raukura Moana Fisheries which managed the fishing quota owned by Waikato, Raukawa, and Maniapoto iwi.

In 2007 he was involved in the establishment of Ngāti Maniapoto’s fishing company Te Kupenga o Maniapoto.

One of his roles was providing formal and informal support for Maniapoto marae and iwi members.

After his role with Te Kupenga was disestablished in 2022, and by now being semi-retired, he continued the biannual visits, dropping off crayfish through permit use, on his own time and own financial cost.

Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for 10 years and has been a journalist for 21.