Tēnei te mihi atu ki te whānau whānui o Waitaha, Kāti Māmoe me Ngāi Tahu.
Murihiku rūnanga have been busy conducting research to develop a Murihiku Cultural Water Classification System. To date we have completed two of the three hīkoi for the Te Ara Koroka (Dart/Slipstream Pounamu trail).
In February, whānau stayed at Kinloch and visited sites in the upper Whakatipu Wai Māori (Kinloch/ Dart River) area. We stayed at Te Kōawa Tūroa o Takitimu on our second hīkoi and travelled to sites around Te Anau, Manapōuri, the Upper Waiau and some regenerating wetlands. It was special to see whānau visiting historically important sites in a contemporary way, by monitoring these for the development of a classification system that will support whānau in their management of freshwater. We were happy to see tuna in most of our hīnaki and in abundance. Tamariki have thoroughly enjoyed our hīkoi, they have their own special monitoring forms – future mahinga kai gatherers and monitors. The hīkoi have strengthened the whanaungatanga and extended the manaakitanga for the whānau from Murihiku.
We still have one final hīkoi – the lower Aparima and Waiau Rivers. A big thank you to whānau who have participated and helped with the hīkoi as they are an extremely important part of the project.
Nā Stevie Blair.
For more information on this project contact Stevie Blair at Te Ao Mārama: [email protected], 03 931 1242, or Oraka-Aparima Runanga office: [email protected], 03 234 8192.
Tamariki from left to right: Our freshwater mahinga kai managers of the future: Ātaahua Tuhi, Nikau Farrell, Luke and Trent Moss.
Our water monitoring team.