Taiao Report

CUSTOMARY FISHERIES

Ōhiwa Harbour

A project aimed at the rejuvenation of the Ōhiwa Harbour Mussel beds has begun. Iwi around the harbour have employed Dr Kura Paul-Burke, Ngai Tamapare, and her husband Joe, to conduct an experiment aimed at addressing the issue of starfish predating on the mussel. The proposal is to construct and place steel mesh and traditionally constructed cages around the old mussel beds in the harbour. The hope is the experimental cages will protect adult mussels from the starfish and allow the production of spat. Spat lines constructed utilising different material like harakeke, nylon and standard material will be situated close by to see which line collects the most spat.

If the cages and spat lines work, the next step will be to seed the juvenile mussels in the old beds to revive them.

The experiment will run for 12 months with the cage areas and spat lines to be clearly marked around the harbour. Extensive advertising also will be employed to advise the public.

After that, if the spat experiment works, divers will be engaged to cull starfish to give the young mussels every opportunity to take hold in the beds.

This method isn’t fool-proof but if something isn’t done now there is a likelihood that there won’t be any harbour mussel left for the future.

Ōhiwa Harbour Rohe Moana

Talks have begun with accompanying iwi to gazette Ōhiwa Harbour to be a rohe moana. Once the gazette process is completed, the rohe moana kaitiaki will look to establish a Mataitai in the harbour to sustainably manage the fishery within the area.

Ngāti Awa Mahinga Mataitai

In May this year, we received news from the Government that we were successful in our “Te Rae ō Kohi Mahinga Mataitai” gazette application. The gazetting of this area is a result of many years of fighting for our rights to sustainably manage our fishery within our Rohe Moana and to utilise the customary rights provided under the Kaimoana Regulations.

We had applied to Mataitai the water immediately surrounding the Rurima and Moutohorā Islands as well. However, this application needs more consultation to get through and we are currently working through these with Ministry of Primary Industries.

Freshwater Fisheries

Longfin and shortfin tuna are our taonga species.

We have been fielding concerns on the health of the tuna fishery in the Rangitaiki River. In response we have instigated the following things to mitigate the concerns.

Iwi Collective Partnership (ICP) have shelved most, if not all, of their māori tuna fishing quota. Shelving of the quota means tonnes of tuna will not be extracted nationally for a set period. This will help to enhance the national tuna population but the effect may not be felt immediately on the local scene.

Locally, we are working proactively with iwi along the Rangitaiki to gazette the river to be a Rohe Awa. When the rohe awa is completed we will then work to gazette a mataitai over fishing areas of the river special to the iwi.

The dams are a major contributor to the mortality of the tuna in the Rangitaiki. However, they are working proactively to get better fish passages installed into their systems.

Commercial fishers, as part of the Tuna Group, are doing their bit as well.

Recently, quota allocations in our FMA have been reduced to reflect the current stock status. It’s in commercial’s best interest to contribute to the rebuild and they have openly shared their fishery methods and areas with us.

Pātaka Kai

With the continued support of Moana NZ, who we utilise to trade our commercial fish quota, we have distributed 1300kgs of fish fillets to tangihanga on marae in Ngāti Awa. We also distributed 1950kgs of meat sourced from cull stock from our Ngāti Awa Dairy Farms to the marae. Going forward with our pātaka fish, we are looking to develop a system utilising the kaimoana regulations to allow us to use commercial boats to catch fish. Under this plan, we will also utilise our customary permits and store the commercially caught fish in a cool store ready for distribution when required. If we are successful in developing this method we should then be able to expand the pātaka distribution to other iwi events not currently able to access pātaka fish.

Water that comes out of the ground and from the clouds above, that includes the oceans and “ seas, the rivers, streams and tributaries, the lakes and wetlands, the springs, geothermal fluids and aquifers both above and below ground, is of vital importance in sustaining the life principle of all human beings in the past, for the present and in the future. ”