Now they’re considering asking Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones to give the rāhui legal teeth with a two-year official ban.
But alternative measures have been suggested – such as marine reserves or Māori-controlled mātaitai reserves – and there’s strong support to reverse the ban on taking smaller shellfish and protect instead the older breeding stock.
Similar rāhui were declared three years ago by hapū of neighbouring Taranaki iwi, and since December 2022 those rāhui have been enforced by a legal ban under Section 186A of the Fisheries Act.
Supported by Te Korowai o Ngāruahine, hapū hosted a public meeting at Pīhama on March 20 at 6pm seeking views on a s186A application, following a meeting at Normanby last Thursday.
Ngāti Haua hapū first declared a rāhui on its coastline in 2009, and kaumātua Sydney Ngatai told the Normanby hui his people took “a whole lot of abuse” for making it stick.
“Our reefs were raped. There was no kai, we had to do something to stop it… The way it was going, there was going to be nothing.”
Ngatai said supportive local farmers locked their gates and he and his daughter still patrol the coast during very low tides.
“That’s 16 years ago, and it’s still going on.”
Further west, Rangiroa Rongonui said his tūpuna looked after the Ōeo-Pīhama coast for generations.
“I’ve fished that area at Oeo for 40 years, since I was 25. I have seen the numbers of pāua in particular drop – and the size drop – dramatically.”
He said hapū can’t stop the plunder by people from as far away as Whanganui, Te Kūiti and Taupō and the community needed a better management system.
Divers and fishers questioned if a ban was best, saying it was crucial to feed whānau and stay connected to the ocean.
Justin Turahui asked how he could pass on skills learned from his grandfather to his own son and grandchildren.
“My whole life, I’ve been able to go and there and access this kai that’s given to me by my ancestors.
“If you’re cutting it right out altogether… you’ve taken one of the things that I’m passionate about and just gone, ‘No, you can’t do it no more’.”
But Rongonui sounded a caution.
“I would be worried my mokopuna are going to turn up to Oeo Beach and not see some of these species in the next 50 years… The take is unsustainable.”
Turahui agreed: “I want the take restricted too.”
Lee Wineera leads a dive team collecting kai, especially for hui and tangi, and questioned a full ban out to 3km, given the coast had natural protections that restricted harvesting to around 30 days a year.
“We need a few things to line up: the moon, the tide and the wind. Sometimes we need that wind to blow in the right direction for a week – if not two.”
Wineera said accurate information was essential, especially for pāua, which moved deeper during warm spells and returned when the water cooled.
“We came across a very large bed of pāua that moved in over three months while we were absent.
“They hadn’t been disturbed, and the water was a lot cooler.”
Koro George Kerehoma said the old ways had been forgotten.
“We always used to go down with the old people and they used to tell us what to do.”
Kerehoma said they were told to leave breeding stock undisturbed.
Wineera agreed taking only bigger pāua was wrong, as did Ngatai.
“We were never allowed to take the biggest. We took the juveniles, because the biggest pāua is the breeder.”
Kaumātua John Hooker of Ōkahu-Inuāwai hapū has steered the proposed s186A bid and said a two-year ban would allow time to work out a permanent solution.
“Maybe pepper-potting marine reserves and mātaitai – perhaps two of those – and even thinking of that big blue whale population out there, possibly a marine mammal reserve.”
Hooker said kai would still be available under a s186A restriction, which wouldn’t ban rod-fishing, would allow collection of potentially invasive kina, and let people take one crayfish a day.
Steve Mitchell from the Ōhawe Boat Club said action was needed.
“You guys are awesome for doing something about it, because if we don’t, the resource is not going to be there.”
Taranaki Regional Council iwi communications officer Sam Tamarapa said he too was taught by his kuia to leave big shellfish alone.
“That is worth considering and going back and pushing the Ministry of Primary Industries.”
TRC marine biologists were keen to help but “it has to be driven by you in the room here”.
“The mātauranga Māori that was shared tonight is amazing… and with skills you’ve got, you can come up with a viable plan to do this.”
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
