Restoring a dwindling eel fishery

GLASS eels thriving at Wildlife Foxton Trust.

Muaupoko iwi have begun an aquaculture programme to help restore their fisheries and rejuvenate the population of tuna (longfin eel) in Lake Horowhenua.

Once a daily food source for Muaupoko, the tuna population has taken a massive hit over the 150 years of European settlement, with more than 90 per cent of their wetlands habitat destroyed, and dams and weirs blocking upstream migration of young eels.

Lake Horowhenua Accord chairman Mathew Sword said the glass eel rehoming falls under lake restoration activities undertaken by the Lake Horowhenua Trust.

"Our main aim is to learn more about the species, how we might grow them and release them back into the lake. We are also giving the lake an eel boost to enable more to grow into larger breeding eels."

Tuna can live for more than 100 years and are known to grow as long as two metres but tuna this size have not been found for more five decades.

It takes 40 years for a tuna to reach maturity before it leaves its fresh water home for a perilous sea journey to Tonga's warmer waters.

Tuna breed only once at the end of their lives, with each female eel producing between one and 20 million eggs. Mature eels then die, their eggs floating to the surface to hatch into flat, leaf-like larvae that drift along oceanic currents back to New Zealand.

On arrival, the larvae change into glass eels, small transparent versions of adult eels that occupy estuaries for their first year. During this time they develop colouration, becoming elvers, resembling small adult long-fin eels, and migrate upstream to develop into adults and begin the cycle again.

Robert Warrington has spent countless midnight hours over the past three weeks catching the elusive glass eels as they enter the Hokio Stream after their sea voyage.

"We can catch up to 400 glass eels at Hokio in one night but they are totally dedicated to getting passed our nets and have a high mortality rate."

He said Muaupoko are the only iwi in the country who can come out after 6pm to catch eels.

"I gave up the All Blacks game for the first time ever to come out eeling on Saturday simply because there was something more important to do," he said.

As a result, there is now about 2500 glass eels thriving in the Foxton aquaculture centre based at Wildlife Foxton Trust.

"The Tuna's biggest enemy has been farming. Before Europeans came Horowhenua was a maze of interconnected swamps through manmade channels, we would farm eels and shell fish inland."

Mr Warrington said Muaupoko's once thriving aquaculture and fisheries was the envy of many tribes.

"In Maori-dom we say Tuna is the kai of the Rangatira but in Muaupoko everyone had one because of our aquaculture. My nan says only a lazy person is hungry in our iwi."

Mr Warrington said he wants to pass on the fishing traditions to future generations.

"Sadly there is a whole generation who aren't fishing and aren't teaching their kids. We are trying to figure out how to re-engage this generation."

He said Muaupoko may have given up land in the past but they never gave up their fisheries.

"The Waitangi Tribunal has re-invigorated Muauopko's rights and people now understand them. We have an obligation to look after our fishery, the fishery that we have free and unrestricted access to. We want to be an example and show people what positive impact we can have, we want to see tuna available as a food source for generations to come and we want to see those generations preserving our customary right to fish."

They are keen to involve rangatahi (young people) to understand more about eel and habitat at the Hokio Stream and Lake Horowhenua.

"We will be organising visits to schools to share the passion and knowledge for protecting our fisheries," he said.