Tāhuhu Matatau Te Ao Tangaroa: Empowering the kaitiaki of Ngā Whare Tokotoru ki Katikati with mātauranga from Aotearoa and beyond

We aimed to identify key scientific developments in areas like marine ecology, spatial planning, real-time monitoring and aquaculture that can be used to support (i) the work of our frontline kaitiaki and (ii) the future development of the Māori marine economy.

For this project, we have developed a model of hapū engagement to tailor and develop information we gather into forms that  best suit our frontline kaitiaki. We have co-designed an online pātaka korero (digital resource) that frontline kaitiaki and Māori communities can use to support their educational, research, future co-management/co-governance, and planning activities in the domain of Tangaroa. Read the Taipiri project report for a summary of this research.

We envisage that this pātaka korero will be customised to differing hapū contexts and will provide a step-by-step approach to exploring emerging knowledge developments in the marine space. We also want to ensure that the presentation of Western scientific knowledge, frameworks, data and tools provides a seamless and intuitive bridge to the language and concepts that our frontline kaitiaki and Māori communities are familiar with.

Progress to date has been guided by participating hapū and kaitiaki of the Tauranga Moana and includes:

• Creation of a prototype, web-based pātaka korero (digital resource)
• Collection and preparation of digital resources (videos, reports, websites, spatial layers and published papers)
• Creation of graphical user interface and framework for the managing metadata.