Ngati Kahu o Torongare is hosting its annual waterway survey this week - and plans to have its mokopuna continue the tradition for their mokopuna.
This week was the twelfth year of the annual survey of the water quality of waterways in the Hikurangi area in Northland, and the wildlife within them.
This event is used to paint a clear pathway for their future generations to dive further into maintaining their tikanga around wai.
Hone Eruera is one of the kaiwhakahaere of this event and he backs these sentiments: “We’re doing this for our mokopuna and our tupuna environment and we ride that wave.”
“In years to come, our mokopuna will be the ones passing to their mokopuna the knowledge about looking after our tupuna, the environment.”
The number of eels in the water has declined in the past few years due to excessive land use, which causes poor water quality, Hone Eruera says.
Threat far from over
“Stuff falls from above and into the river, then it becomes a dirty and unsafe environment for the fish, the kēwai and eels.
While some species are returning, the threat to the survival is far from over.
“There is a lot of algae in the waterways. But there are also a lot of our migrating fish that are coming back, which is good to see, our little alvars and others.”
Ngati Kahu descendant Haane Rudolph suggests there are solutions to be found for the eel situation.
“They migrate about now but I guess they’re coming a bit later, and we’re also seeing some of our tuna whakaheke getting ready to go out to see.”
“There are two main barriers, one of the pump stations and the power plant at Korokota that they have to get up, so there is that barrier coming up, and then there is the barrier of the pumps that cut up our tuna going back down. So both ends are affected, and we’re trying to find solutions for that.”