The final step was seeking support from kaumātua, which was under way but had been delayed by the Omicron surge.
"This is in response to the ongoing pillaging of our coastline for all variety of kaimoana, especially from the mass attacks that have occurred over recent months.
"While these attacks in our rohe (area) have not been at the scale of our whanaunga (relatives) further south, it is still occurring and will just be a matter of time before our areas become the next target – especially as the southern stocks are depleted."
King said Ngāti Tairi had already stopped issuing permits to collect kaimoana for the likes of hui and tangihanga.
"A few years ago, we made the difficult decision to put a hold on issuing any cultural harvest permits to support the much-needed regrowth and renewal of our kaimoana from overharvesting and environmental impacts."
She said the wider rāhui was to "protect this precious resource for future generations – even if it means our current ones have to go without".
"That is our obligation as kaitiaki.
"This measure is a serious one as it directly impacts our own whānau and wider local community who may rely on this kai, not just as a delicacy, but as a main source of nutrition."
Neighbouring hapū Ngā Mahanga of Puniho Pā near Ōkato was also considering joining the rāhui.
Puniho Pā chairman David Jones said a decision was due at an AGM this weekend, but their hui also had been postponed.
If the two hapū join, the entire coastline of Taranaki iwi would be under rāhui, about 70 kilometres of coastline.
The initiators of the rāhui, hapū of Ōrimupiko marae, intend applying for a legal ban of two years under the Fisheries Act, with help from the iwi organisation Te Kāhui o Taranaki.
On Monday the rāhui prompted Taranaki Regional Council to launch an investigation to seek out evidence for a decline in kaimoana over time.
TRC chairman David MacLeod said he had personal "anecdotal evidence from when I was younger through to today that kaimoana stocks are worse off".
He said staff needed to work out how bad the problem was, what the implications were, and what measures the regional council could take, perhaps with the Ministry for Primary Industries.
Some hapū had already been surveying their reefs and council officers were asked to invite Taranaki iwi to share mātauranga (knowledge) on the rationale for the rāhui.
Parihaka kaumātua and former MP Te Whakamaharatanga Okeroa previously said the problem had been growing since the New Year period of 2021 when 56 vehicles were seen at the end of Arawhata Rd.
By New Year 2022 the fleet had grown to 76 vehicles, with gatherers mostly from Asian communities.
Okeroa said there had been busloads of 30 manene (foreigners or migrants), each taking at least their quota of 10 pāua each low tide, sometimes twice a day over a weekend.
"Thirty people so that's 300 pāua … That's just one bus to say nothing of 70 other cars down here."
He said the visitors had a different view of conservation, taking all sorts shellfish and octopus, and even scraping rocks clear of limpets.
Local Democracy Reporting is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air
