Sustainable Seas Conference

What an amazing opportunity to be invited to attend the Sustainable Seas Conference 2023 held in Wellington. March 29th – 31st. Mereana and were so grateful to attend as mana whenua of Waiheke, working with our moana in co- governance with locals that make up Waiheke Marine Project.

We were completely blown away by the calibre of panelists that we were privileged to meet and listen, learn from.The first day started of with a karakia me mihi whakatau hoki from mana whenua of Whānganui ā Tara, Te Taku Pārai from Ngāti Toa Rangataira. This begins the setting of tikanga and mana held by the iwi.

There were many sessions that stood out for both of us – the first day knowing more and understanding how blue economy works, to be sustainable, made me realise the opportunities we have as Māori working in the taiao space on how we can still hold kaitiaki over our natural resources but also be able to practise mana motuhake with what the environment provides us. That silver lining. Day 2 started off with a video recording of a Wahine of Hawaiian descent, Pelika Andrade. She was our first keynote speaker of the day and she blew us out of the water. Her presentation walked side by side with great mātauranga Māori Mātua Papa Rereata Makiha. That was where I held her. Her kōrero was based around moon and tide systems and connections back to the sea, the land and the people. Her description of -Āina is based on reciprocity. It is all about connections and whakawhanaungātanga/relationships. Talks about being sustainable in our communities, whanau. Iwi, hapu and how we can continue and look at our resource management, our seas and waters. All about being present and together strengthening relationships to observe our taiao – conscious action has to happen all based on relationships. Observations are so similar to us as Māori. All our values are the same. This is what we are trying to achieve within WMP.

Leigh Takirau
Project participant