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Taiao - Uwhia te huhi
Waitukukiri water monitoring programme
A mounga ki te moana approach is being taken with a new water health monitoring programme of 12 awa that has the ultimate aim of understanding and improving water quality in our rohe.
The Waitukukiri water monitoring programme, led by Pou Whirinaki Carl Owen, started in November last year, with the Toa Taiao team’s wai-focused work programme re-established, focusing on consistency in data capture and upskilling our team in the appropriate monitoring methodologies.
Through the Waitukukiri programme, the team covers the Timaru, Kaihihi, Matanehunehu, Mangatete, Te Ikapārua, Kapoaiaia, Waitotoroa, Waitaha, Pungaereere, Oaoiti, Otahi and Waiaua awa.
Each of the 12 awa has three monitoring sites: upper, mid and lower. Since January this year, a total of 190 site visits have been made. Kaimahi collect data on stream health such as water clarity and nutrient levels. Ngāi poripori | macroinvertabrate surveys are also done, as an indicator of water quality and overall stream health.
Additionally, kaimahi aim to walk each awa from mounga to the moana over a number of days to assess the health of the awa and identify activities that may impact on its health.
Pou Taiao Ngāwai Terry is delighted with the progress.
“Carl has driven this and the team have done amazing work. When you look at our progress to date, I’m absolutely rapt,” she says.
“During the first phase of work, it was about reconnecting our Toa Taiao to the awa, which would see them identifying access and monitoring sites, understanding who our neighbouring farmers are and creating a personal connection to the awa and the surrounding environment.”
Ngāwai says before Waitukukiri began, there was no water quality data on any awa between Ōakura and Ōpunakē, the central part of Taranaki Iwi rohe and a farming area. Land use is a key driver of water quality and river ecosystem health.
It will take about two years to establish baseline data from the awa, with particular attention paid during dairy farm milking season. This data will be used to plan water quality improvements.
“We need to create good relationships with our farming community to help guide and educate some on the impacts of farming operations on our wai,” Ngāwai says.
“One of our biggest hindrances is not having easy access to our awa. A lot of the farmers are not keen on us coming on to their property. Some of these farmers think we’re out to get them. But at the end of the day, it’s in all of our best interests to have healthy water. We have a lot of work to do.”
Waitukukiri will be a critical driver of the Taiao work programme. For example, it will influence the riparian planting programme, wānanga and hui with Marae/Pā and communities, and efforts to encourage tamariki, whānau and farming communities to think about how their relationship with streams and rivers can help improve water quality.
Piharau research
Adding to the overall picture of awa health is research by Tihikura Hohaia (Toa Taiao) that is being developed to understand piharau populations in local rivers.
Mahi currently includes catching the taonga species by hand. However, it’s hoped to resource this research with counting cables in time for next winter’s piharau migration. Laid across the river bed, the cables would count adult piharau coming home and babies heading out to sea.
Identifying piharau nursery kirikiri, where the juveniles live before migrating to the sea, will also help Te Kāhui o Taranaki advocate for the protection of these sites and associated hūhi.
The aim is to achieve healthy populations of piharau in our awa to provide kai for our Marae whānau.
Aspirational kōrero: Waitukukiri
The name Waitukukiri reminds us of our physical and spiritual connection to wai as places where our tūpuna drank from and bathed.
Waitukukiri also speaks of the kirikiri (shingles) in the stream or river environment providing the habitat for baby fish species. It is the space that captures the sediments, foamy deposits, algae and other pollutants that impact on the health and wellbeing of our awa.
Applying to extend the Section 186A mātaitai harvesting ban
Continuing concerns over preserving and protecting Taranaki coast mātaitai from overfishing has resulted in an application to extend the current ban by another two years.
In December 2022, using Section 186a of the Fisheries Act 1996, Taranaki Iwi won a two-year temporary closure to the harvesting of all shellfish (except rock lobster), seaweed (excluding beach cast seaweed), anemones and conger eels.
This closure gave legal effect to the rāhui put in place by Hapū of Taranaki Iwi in January 2022. Covering from Rawa o Turi in the south to Paritūtū in the north, the rāhui put in temporary restrictions to preserve and protect taonga species from overfishing and give the marine ecosystem time to recover and regenerate.
Pou Taiao Ngāwai Terry says the two-year extension to the temporary closure was agreed by Marae/Pā and/or Hapū because pūkawa monitoring show mātaitai stock levels still need time to recover and more work is needed to understand appropriate protection measures.
“December is when we get lots of visitors coming to our rohe,” Ngāwai says.
“Extending the temporary closure gives us time to have good, robust discussions about marine protection measures that can be used to protect our mātaitai.”
Nursery rākau
We are pleased to announce our new nursery being developed at the former Pungarehu School. It is an important step in our plans to branch out into whakapapa rākau sourced from seeds collected from Taranaki Iwi whenua.
Our current nursery holds about 2000 to 3000 plants. Our new nursery, expected to be completed in September, is much bigger and will hold significantly more plants. This will enable us to replant our reserves, and our Marae/Pā or other significant Taranaki Iwi sites.
With whakapapa rākau, we intend to source and collect seed in Taranaki Iwi rohe and track it at every stage of its lifecycle. It will take two to three years to source seed and grow it until it’s ready to be planted.
