This report was originally published on Moana.
“Forward: As kaitiaki (stewards) of significant iwi (Māori) sheries assets, Aotearoa Fisheries has begun a sustainability journey to safeguard the future of our premium wild and farmed seafood. We believe in courageous innovation and in carefully testing best practice in order to understand the deeper implications of future proofing our business. Believing that we also don’t have all the answers, we joined the New Zealand Sustainable Business Council (SBC) to give us access to leading edge tools.
In 2014, SBC piloted the application of a new approach to analysing our resource base called ecosystem service review. Ecosystem services link ecosystem processes and human well-being in terms of the direct and indirect benefits people obtain from ecosystems. Māori deeply understand this interconnectedness and that humans are also core parts of these ecosystems. We chose to focus on pāua as a taonga, because it is a prized product, yet changes to the ecosystem could have significant impacts on the fishery in years to come. The review has indeed identified some issues we need to deeply consider and potentially address, including the loss of kelp habitat for pāua in the Marlborough Sounds.
This work would not have been possible without meaningful partners. We would like to thank SBC and Landcare Research for guidance and Department of Conservation (DOC) for sponsoring this project. Our technical contributors were National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), DOC, the Pāua Industry Council (PIC) and Otago University Department of Marine Science. Terra Moana Ltd facilitated, guided and technically contributed to its delivery.
We invite you to read this summary of much detailed research and consider how you might join us in extending the use of ecosystem service review to other important primary products in New Zealand, as well as to collaboratively address the issues that this pāua review has identified…”
Download the report here.
