Far North iwi replaces two vandalised pou

The southern pou, Te Aho, stands unveiled on the Tauroa Peninsula, west of Ahipara, as an overcast sky begins to lighten.

Te Rarawa has made good on its promise to restore two carved pou, marking the boundaries of the rahui on the Tauroa Peninsula, west of Ahipara, which were cut down and sawn into pieces in July.

They had been erected about 10 years ago in a bid to preserve marine life, particularly paua, and on Saturday they were reinstated.

The ceremony began before dawn with the unveiling of the repaired, recarved and repainted pou at Otia, Te Rarawa members, guests and representatives from Ahipara Takiwa, the collective of marae with mana whenua in the area, making the journey along the rugged coastline from Ahipara to witness the occasion.

Getting there wasn't easy, even in four-wheel-drive vehicles, navigating rocky headlands and sand soft enough to bury wheels in a flash, even more challenging in pitch dark and with a rapidly rising tide.

The pou, Te Aho and Te Omu, once again mark the rahui, prohibiting all fishing and gathering of seafood along 1.34km of coastline and one nautical mile out to sea, to preserve and replenish seafood stocks; 20,000 juvenile paua were "planted" there in 2011, in a bid to halt a decline widely regarded as destined to end in extinction.

Te Rarawa chairman Haami Piripi, who led Saturday's ceremony, reiterated that the felling of the original pou had only strengthened the resolve of the iwi and hapu.

"We don't look at it as a setback. Rather it's an opportunity to develop resilience and reaffirm our protocols and position," he said.

"We will continue to exercise kaitiakitanga and tino rangatiratanga over our taonga. It's our role and responsibility as ahi ka, as tangata whenua, as Māori."

Shortly after the pou were felled Piripi said monitoring by the iwi had revealed that 3500 permits had been issued for the taking of paua in one month, so the ancient custom of tapu was instituted to protect what remained.

"It [the rahui] has lasted well for 10 years. I think it will continue to last well, and we'll have to just replace the pou. But it's not the pou that have been damaged, it's the heart of the people and the relationships that arise from it," he said.

The iwi had been working for a long time to establish its own tikanga in terms of conservation and marine conservation management. The pou had been part of that, and had been observed, their importance recognised, not only by Māori and locals, but even by foreign tourists.

"So it's particularly painful to have such a thing happen," Piripi said.

Local kaitiaki and artist Te Aroha Te Paa had worked with whanau and hapu for several months to restore the pou, which had now been coated in reflective paint for visibility at night.