Every journey begins with a single step, one of those who spoke at last week's presentation of eight Ahipara paua to Kaitaia College commented, but while this was one just one step for a priceless resource, it was far from a small one.
The paua were harvested on Thursday morning and delivered to the college, where they will play the key role in study programme by college students, the ultimate aim being to breed propagate the shellfish for return to Ahipara, all part of the on-going efforts of the Ahipara Komiti Takutaimoana to restore the once extensive paua beds there to a healthy and sustainable state.
Kaitaia Primary School teacher and komiti member Tui Qauqau said the breeding initiative began several years ago.
"There was an expectation that the reseeding would happen again with the donation from Oceanz Blue, but the juvenile paua were unfit for re-seeding. Our committee is not able to sustain the Oceanz Blue cost of around $15,000-$20,000 to purchase juvenile paua for future reseeding, but Aaron McCloy, from Kaitaia College, Marty Taylor from Enviroschools and a few of our committee members were able to source equipment and use their skills to establish paua breeding tanks within the science lab at Kaitaia College."
The project also had strong educational elements, she added, involving tamariki in meaningful learning experiences within and outside the classroom, giving students the chance to learn about the breeding cycle of the paua, to focus on why paua were being depleted (for example poaching, climate change and commercial fishing), and most importantly to teach them about their kaitiaki role.
"The project is hands-on, and the tamariki will be involved in the breeding process as well as reseeding at Tauroa," Ms Qauqau said, adding that it was a collaborative effort involving the community, the Ahipara Komiti Takutaimoana, Te Runanga o Te Rarawa, DOC and schools.
Meanwhile the 'paua party' was accorded a formal welcome to the school, college kaumatua Raymond Subritzky saying he would be watching carefully to see what could be achieved.
"Sustainability is very important to our people," he said, "and hopefully this is just the start of the journey to sustaining what we have in our oceans."
Principal William Tailby told his guests that the college was honoured to be participating in the project, and took its role seriously. He hoped the school would be involved in more collaboration with Muriwhenua iwi in the future.
Laurie Austen, who harvested the paua that morning and has spent much of his adult life working to protect the Ahipara beds, said the project had received a great response from the students, staff and everyone else at the college.
"This is the perfect educational tool; it ticks all the boxes," he said, adding that he could see it spreading around the country.
"The more buy-in, the more input we get the more we can do in the community," he said.