Projects

A Respository of Knowledge: Maatauranga Maori

The purpose of this project is to create a repository of knowledge for all information identified as mātauranga Māori. Having this knowledge recorded and collected within the Sustainable Seas
Challenge will help identify where mātauranga Māori has been used to integrate with other knowledge frameworks, and how it contributed to the distinctive products, processes, systems and services of the Challenge. Other factors that would be captured:
• The source of the mātauranga Māori (who the knowledge came from).

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Adapting principles from rongoā into ecologically and culturally sustainable farm practice

This project examines rongoā (traditional Māori knowledge of medicinal plants) to find ways to improve animal health naturally, and overall, manage farms with respect for the land.

Principal Investigator Dr Marion Johnson was a farm manager in the UK when she received a scholarship to study environmental biology and returned to university. She later arrived back in New Zealand to complete a PhD on parasites of farmed red deer. For her post-doctoral research, she wanted to focus on sustainable agricultural practices.

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An investigation into the fisheries resources and interests of iwi, hapū and marae within Tauranga Moana and the impacts caused by the grounding of the CV Rena

Region: 

This Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga research project aims to assess the status of selected taonga shellfish (including pipi, tuatua, kina and pāua) resources within the Rohe Moana o Tauranga Moana, and the impacts caused by the grounding of the cargo vessel Rena on these fisheries and iwi ability to manage them. The Rena grounding highlighted to iwi the threats posed by environmental disasters to traditional fisheries. In this case, fisheries were closed along the coast and at times, from Waihī to Pukehina.

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Commercial feasibility of using mātauranga Māori based fish traps to eliminate bycatch

The commercial fishing industry is a complex system, and one issue that can hamper the success of fishing companies is the inadvertent capture of fish that are not target species. Under the Quota Management System, if a company has limited quota for a non target-species then fishing for target species has to stop once the limited quota of a non-target species has been met. The Waikawa Fishing Company proposed to address the bycatch issue by designing and creating fish traps, from mātauranga Māori, that target individual species.

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Commercial feasibility of using mātauranga Maori-based fish traps to eliminate bycatch – Phase 2

The commercial fishing industry is a complex system, and one issue that can hamper the success of fishing companies is the inadvertent capture of fish that are not target species. Under the Quota Management System, if a company has limited quota for a non-target species then fishing for target species has to stop once the limited quota of non-target species has been met. In a lead-up research project the researchers showed that fish traps, based in mātauranga Maori, have potential to reduce bycatch.

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