A customary rāhui prohibiting any take of blackfoot pāua has been put over the Parimahu reef area in Pōrangahau to protect stocks. Photo / Supplied
A customary rāhui prohibiting any take of blackfoot pāua has been put over the Parimahu reef area in Pōrangahau to protect stocks. Photo / Supplied
A customary rāhui prohibiting blackfoot pāua being taken fromthe Parimahu reef area in Pōrangahau will protect its sustainability for the community.
The decision comes after a hui run by Ngāti Kere Hapū Authority at Pōrangahau Hall at the start of the month, prompted by discussions between mana whenua group, Ngāti Kere Tangata Kaitiaki and community group Te Taiāpure o Pōrangahau.
Jim Hutcheson, chairman of the Ngāti Kere Tangata Kaitiaki group, said ordinary people have trouble gathering kaimona.
“It takes a special kind of diver now, with long fins and all the gear to get pāua.”
Taiāpure chairman Alastair Ormond said the group had been in contact with the Ministry for Primary Industries since February this year about a rāhui.
“I’m a lifelong fisherman and I’m completely in support of this. At that time we envisaged that it would be enforced before summer,” Ormond said.
Anthony Tipene Matua, chairman of the Rongomareroa Marae Trust, said seafood was important to his marae.
“Ngāti Kahungunu peoples are widely renowned for seafood - especially pāua. Our marae prides itself on kaimoana on the hākari tables and that is getting very much harder to do these days.”
Jim Hutcheson, chairman of the Ngāti Kere Tangata Kaitiaki group, says ordinary people have trouble gathering kaimona from Parimahu due to depleted stock. Photo / Supplied
David Tipene-Leach, Ngāti Kere Hapū Authority chairman, said the customary rāhui is not a controversial move.
“It’s common sense. Look at Waimārama, Taranaki, Marsden Bank and Waiheke - rāhui like this are now nationwide. Māori are beginning processes that whole communities are getting behind to preserve the resource for upcoming generations.”
According to a statement from Ngāti Kere Tangata Kaitiaki, Te Taiapure o Pōrangahau, the Ngāti Kere Hapū Authority and the Rongomaraeroa Marae Trust, the rāhui will start immediately below Te Angiangi Marine Reserve and will go to the south side of Parimahu reef to the outlet of Waikaraka Stream.
The rāhui area, like the Te Angiangi Marine Reserve, will extend out to one nautical mile.
Ngāti Kere Tangata Kaitiaki and Taiāpure o Pōrangahau will investigate progressing a Section 186a Temporary Closure order with MPI early next year.
Hutcheson and Ormond said establishing a presence on the coast with Department of Conservation-trained voluntary rangers is essential to the development of good behaviour and respect for the tikanga of coastal regions, which they say is currently neglected by “scores” of divers from across the country.
