Session details
Rā tuatahi – session one
Ngāti Tūwharetoa are descended from Ngātoro-i-rangi, the tohunga who navigated Te Arawa canoe and have held ahi ka in the Taupō catchment for seven generations. We are made up of 26 active and vibrant marae and 32 hapū. Ngāti Tūwharetoa are privileged to still hold a hereditary ariki under the leadership of Te Ariki Tumu te Heuheu
Ngāti Tūwharetoa hold 41% of whenua Māori (not including Taupō Waters and the general title land purchased) in the Taupō Catchment. Predominately these lands are governed by ahu whenua trusts who run successful forestry, beef and sheep farming in their own right.
For Ngāti Tūwharetoa, the glistening waters of Lake Taupō and the tributaries are a direct link to our whakapapa, each other, and our place – all starting at the source Kāhui Maunga.
This session will give a small insight into the commitment of Ngāti Tūwharetoa to the holistic health of our Taupō waters that have spanned generations. This has primarily been led by the way in which we manage our whenua – the water is a mirror of what happens on the land.
Ngāti Tūwharetoa are descended from Ngātoro-i-rangi, the tohunga who navigated Te Arawa canoe and have held ahi ka in the Taupō catchment for seven generations. We are made up of 26 active and vibrant marae and 32 hapū. Ngāti Tūwharetoa are privileged to still hold a hereditary ariki under the leadership of Te Ariki Tumu te Heuheu
Ngāti Tūwharetoa hold 41% of whenua Māori (not including Taupō Waters and the general title land purchased) in the Taupō Catchment. Predominately these lands are governed by ahu whenua trusts who run successful forestry, beef and sheep farming in their own right.
For Ngāti Tūwharetoa, the glistening waters of Lake Taupō and the tributaries are a direct link to our whakapapa, each other, and our place – all starting at the source Kāhui Maunga.
This session will give a small insight into the commitment of Ngāti Tūwharetoa to the holistic health of our Taupō waters that have spanned generations. This has primarily been led by the way in which we manage our whenua – the water is a mirror of what happens on the land.
We are facing a time of unprecedented resource management reform in Aōtearoa. As a result, hapū, iwi and Māori landowners are in a phase of steep transition, and in the case of resource management reform, in a fight to protect our, our wai, our whenua, our moana from a proposed system that is set, in its current form to profoundly impact the well being of our natural taonga, our place as Kaitiaki and our inherent Te Tiriti rights and interests, including the upholding of our Te Tiriti settlements. The Freshwater Iwi Chairs forum and their technicians have been working on these matters for the past 18 months and Tina will provide a summary of where the lines are being drawn and consider what we must do next.
Tina will also provide some practical context to the implementation and use of Te Mana o te Wai, how it is evolving across the country and how it will become the cornerstone of transformative change, if it is led by tangata whenua.
Rā tuatahi – session two
Te Mahere Wai is the guiding framework developed by Te Kāhui Taiao (Taranaki Whānui representatives Sam Kāhui and Kara Puketakpu-Dentice, and Ngāti Toa representatives Naomi Solomon and Hikitia Ropata) and reflects their Mana Whenua perspective and direction in giving effect to the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management 2020 (NPSFM 2020) within Te Whaitua o Te Whanganui-a-Tara.
At the conference, Vanessa will talk about her involvement in the Ruamāhanga and Te Whanganui-a-Tara Whaitua Processes and what the new freshwater reforms have meant for tangata whenua in the Wellington region.
Traditionally, Waiapu Koka Huhua is a reference to the female leadership in the Waiapu valley, and is reflected in the majority of the 27 hapū within the Waiapu being named after rangatira wahine.
More recently we use this whakatauki to guide our kaitieki efforts by reminding us of the abundance within the Waiapu and her tributaries to sustain our hapū.
We share the premise for co-governance in the Waiapu River catchment between Ngāti Porou and Gisborne District Council and present some key challenges and learnings we have experienced so far in co-writing the Waiapu Catchment Plan. These are focused on:
- Enabling hapū leadership in freshwater management (engagement, representation and developing hapu capacity)
- Determining Te Mana o Te Wai
- Our approach to setting FMU’s and translating the NPS-FM
- Preserving our “position/s” through the RM Reform.
Rā tuatahi – session three
Te Kawa Waiora is a research project, inspired by the hearts and minds of marae, hapū and iwi of the Wairoa River, to improve the health and mauri of the river and its tributaries.
The project, overseen by Reconnecting Northland, is focused on bringing together the people of the awa through hui wānanga, to discuss a new pathway of ecological management, based on mātauranga Māori. The project ran through the two-year period of 2020-2021 and conducted a series of research capability training workshops for iwi and hapū to engage in and conduct their own research to answer their questions about the awa and its people’s deep history.
Charles Royal will discuss the outcomes and findings of this research including the presence of mātauranga Māori in the research and the call for a resourced and sustained Kaitiaki network in the study area.
Celia will speak on the insights of managing a kaupapa Māori-based research project within the constraints of government funding and administration, including the recognition of the contribution from hapū communities and what is important to them.
The team will share their journey of preserving and revitalising mātauranga, tikanga and kawa of freshwater taonga species, in particular tuna, īnanga, kōura, koaro and kākahi. This includes a pilot study to develop and test mātauranga-led freshwater fisheries monitoring and habitat restoration. This would be guided by māramataka; koeke and pūkenga interviews; waiata as well as hītori (i.e. where kaiawa used to be); as well as whānau wānanga (i.e. where restoration needs to be prioritised)
William will share his kōrero on the mahi Te Arawa Lakes Trust is undertaking to help restore their roto.
As part of their settlement legislation, Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō can apply for consent to take tuna from Nelson Lakes National Park for customary use, subject to certain conditions. In 2021, Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō received Tiaki Wai Funding from Te Wai Māori for a pilot study to investigate the sustainability of cultural harvesting by combining Māori approaches and scientific methods.
At the heart of this mahi was the sharing of mātauranga Māori and facilitating the intergenerational transfer of cultural knowledge. Population counts, length-weight measurements, and aging of the tuna using the otoliths extracted from harvested individuals provided further insight into the structure of the population.
More so now – than ever, the rohe of Patuharakeke is under immense pressure from urban and industrial growth and development. With a strong focus on succession planning, this session will focus on intergenerational aspirations in a time where both legislative reform and industrialisation are creating uncertainty for their mahi within the taiao.
An overview of the history of Patuharakeke, the present mahi being undertaken by the Patuharakeke Taiao Unit and the future aspirations of their taitamariki will be shared. The aspirations of Patuharakeke will be conveyed via kōrero relating to the Pukekauri ngahere and the Takahiwai dam which was taken out of hapū ownership via the Public Works Act in the 1960s.
Rā tuarua – session four
This presentation introduces the research kaupapa and describes research looking at three topics of special interest to the Māori fisheries community:
- Freshwater fish interactions
- Introduced species management
- Fisheries values.
This talk will present data showing exceptionally high tuna/longfin eel biomass in Waituna Creek. We will then demonstrate the importance of connectivity to a healthy, productive coastal ecosystem – the Waituna Lagoon – in supporting the Creek’s tuna population through the upstream migration of īnanga.
Rā tuarua – session five
Tuna are an important taonga to Māori, revered for hundreds of years as a source of food, figure of legend, and caretaker of the waterways. But historic takes of the oldest, largest longfins have had an impact on the species, now classified as declining.
At a tuna conference in 2017, iwi and hapū made it clear that they had serious concerns about the plight of the longfin tuna and signalled to Te Wai Māori Trust, Te Ohu Kaimoana, and central and local government that immediate action was required. In response, Te Wai Māori Trust established Te Mana o Ngā Tuna to act as both a partner and advisory group, to be the voice for tuna.
Whanganui tuna expert Ben Potaka is the Chairperson for Te Mana o Ngā Tuna and will be presenting at the conference on the extraordinary life cycle, endurance, and navigation of longfin tuna, who travel from the ocean to the headwaters of Aotearoa’s rivers.
The biology, life cycle and habitat preferences of longfin tuna have made them especially vulnerable to change. Longfin tuna can grow to 1.5 metres long and weigh more than 20kg; the largest – always females, and often over 100 years old – can reach 50kg, making them the biggest and oldest eels in the world. They are endemic to Aotearoa and are only found in our rivers and lakes. Longfin tuna will travel about 4,000km to the deep-sea trenches from which they emerged to spawn and then die.
Ben says his success will be measured in 50 years’ time – by whether Whanganui still has tuna left to catch.
Relearning responsibility and resetting the permanence of our own obligations. Working collaboratively with HEPS and our iwi along the Rangitaiki in restoring harmony and balance of whenua and ngā waihekeheke where wellness is measured.