At a hui at Korou Kore Marae, Ahipara, on March 12, attendees agreed urgent action was needed to protect and preserve the pāua stock in the area and a rāhui is under consideration.
At a hui at Korou Kore Marae, Ahipara, on March 12, attendees agreed urgent action was needed to protect and preserve the pāua stock in the area and a rāhui is under consideration.
Members of the eight hapu – Ngāti Moroki, Ngāti Waiora, Ngāti Pākahi, Ngāti Houpure, Te Patukirikiri, and Parewhero, Ngāti Moetonga and Te Rokekā – and the wider community met at Korou Kore Marae on Wednesday for a hui called by Reuben Taipari after ongoing concern about the amount of pāua being taken from the area for hui across Te Tai Tokerau.
Taipari said there had been cases recently of customary permits being issued for up to 400 pāua, which was far too many from an area that covers only about 3km of coastline around Tauroa Point. He said concerns about the huge amount of pāua being taken from the area had been ongoing for years, but it was now time for all parties “to get together to work on a solution”.
Concerns have been raised about the amount of pāua being taken from around Tauroa Pt at Ahipara.
Taipari said up to 300 people attended the hui from the various hapū, with representatives of the fishing and wider communities, surfers, divers and representatives from the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI).
He said the numbers attending showed how seriously the issue was being taken, with all sides unified in agreeing something needed to be done to protect the pāua fishery.
One aspect under discussion is imposing a rāhui on taking the “taonga kaimoana” from the area, but Taipari said a lot more work needed to be done before that happened.
“One issue is that many people don’t really understand what a rāhui entails. Many think it’s putting on a padlock and a sign up stopping people from entering.”
But, he said, it was far more than that and a rāhui was about protecting through wananga (education), observing the resource and working out what the situation was and then how it could be protected “for the benefit of all, our hapū and the general population. It’s about protecting it for the future for all.”
Taipari said that involved getting good analysis on the fishery in the area as the first step, then looking for potential solutions.
He said everybody at the hui agreed something needed to be done and more work would now go on to find out what the fishery was like and to look for solutions to help it.
Overfishing is putting pressure on pāua stocks at Ahipara in the Far North.
A rāhui was still on the table if it was decided that one was needed.
An MPI spokesperson said traditionally, tangata whenua protected their fisheries resources when they were under pressure.
“Under tikanga Māori, rāhui are respected. Adherence to a rāhui is voluntary and generally well supported,” the spokesperson said.
“To provide statutory support for their rāhui, tangata whenua may request a temporary closure under section 186A of the Fisheries Act, which can be for up to two years. Fishery officers will enforce a temporary closure (under section 186A of the Fisheries Act 1996) once it is approved.”
Taipari said it needed everybody working together to save the in-demand seafood so it could provide food for many generations to come.
"Ahipara is a very popular spot for pāua. There’s a lot of traffic [on the beach], particularly over summer, with sometimes a thousand vehicles there at peak time. And they aren’t all there to watch the sun set," Taipari said.
“A lot [of criticism] says that it’s us locals that are the problem, but that’s not the case at all. We are kaitiaki (guardians) and are looking for solutions to help. People come here from all over Tai Tokerau to get pāua, with our pāua used at hui right across the country, but it’s not sustainable.”
