Plan to replenish Hawke's Bay paua

Data will provide valuable insight into understanding the paua. Photo / Sonja Miller

Repopulating parts of the Hawke's Bay coastline with paua is looking promising.

Waimarama whanau made their way out to the coastline to learn how to monitor the growth of the paua.

"It's about passing on knowledge so that everyone can be involved in the kaitiakitanga of the paua themselves," says Sonja Miller, a scientist from Te Roopu Awhina in Wellington.

Whanau learned how to locate, measure and record data that will enable them to track the growth of paua.

Waimarama whanau learn how to monitor the growth of paua. Photo / Sonja Miller

That data will provide valuable insight into understanding the paua and help to determine population numbers and overall health.

"The paua to us is like our tamariki (children) and tamariki are very precious to us, and that's how we see our paua, we want to take care of them," explains Waimarama local Te Waru.

Four years ago, Ngati Kahungunu completed its first pilot programme.

About 100,000 juvenile paua were grown in a hatchery in Te Kaha in the Bay of Plenty.

They were then taken and reseeded along rocky locations in Waimarama, Pourerere and Porangahau.

Increasing fishing pressures on paua stocks has seen the need for replenishment along the coastline.

"The paua stocks in Kahungunu are under a lot of pressure and we want to repopulate the areas where the population has been diminished, they're really slow growing and sometimes need some awhi to help them along their way," explains Ngaio Tiuka of Ngati Kahungunu Iwi Inc.

Paua can take up to eight years to reach maturity thus taking many generations to recover from a reduction in population.