The defendant deceived kaitiaki to obtain customary fishing permits, falsely claiming he was catching crayfish for hui or tangi. Photo: Unbsplash / Stephanie Moody
A sickness beneficiary made more than $68,000 in less than a year by illegally harvesting and selling thousands of crayfish from around Māhia Peninsula.
John Nohotima now faces a possible jail sentence and has had three vehicles and a boat confiscated for the offending, in which he deceived kaitiaki to obtain customary fishing permits, falsely claiming he was catching crayfish for hui or tangi.
Court documents show that Nohotima, 60, sold 4664 rock lobsters, or crayfish, between 1 September, 2020 and 1 August, 2021.
He has pleaded guilty to one representative charge of acting in contravention of the Fisheries Act to obtain a benefit.
Nohotima was due to be sentenced in the Wairoa District Court this week, but this has been delayed due to the disruption caused in the region by recent storms.
He was the latest member of an East Coast black market seafood operation to face justice.
The group harvested crayfish using falsified customary permits and sold them throughout Auckland, Kawerau, Tauranga, Gisborne, Wairoa, Māhia and Napier.
Kawerau father and daughter Martin Te Iwingaro Ernest Paul, 49, and Whareake Tamaku Paul, 26, were the ringleaders.
Martin Paul was sentenced to nine months of home detention by the Whakatāne District Court in March, and his daughter got eight months of home detention and 100 hours of community work.
A Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) summary of facts in the Nohotima case said that the Wairoa resident obtained 72 customary permits after providing kaitiaki, appointed under the Kaimoana Customary Fishing Regulations, with details of fake hui or tangi.
"Enquiries at the marae and other facilities named on these permits revealed that not only did the events not take place, but also the people involved were unaware their marae or facility was being used in this way," the summary of facts said.
The details of the fake tangi or hui events were supplied to Nohotima by Martin Paul.
It is illegal to sell seafood taken under a customary permit.
Over the span of 11 months between 2020 and 2021, Nohotima caught and sold 4664 crayfish for $68,690. If sold on the legal and lucrative commercial market, that amount of koura would be worth nearly $300,000.
Nohotima communicated with members of the Paul family in the Bay of Plenty using two cellphones. Paul family members then travelled to Wairoa about 46 times to collect the crayfish.
The summary of facts said Nohotima sold the crayfish for between $15 and $25 each to the Pauls, who then on-sold them for $30 each.
In addition to sales to the Paul family, Nohotima sold crayfish to one of his own family members in Tauranga and directly to various other people in Wairoa, Māhia, Napier and Gisborne.
Nohotima told investigators that he funnelled the money through his daughter's bank account so the Ministry for Social Development would not see large cash deposits in his own account, where he receives his benefit payments.
When interviewed, he told investigators he would like to "apologise to all my people".
The charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison or a fine not exceeding $250,000.
MPI has seized three motor vehicles, a six-metre fibreglass boat and outboard motor, two cellphones and 16 craypots that were identified as being used in the offending.
This story was first published by the New Zealand Herald.