Earlier this year Native Affairs was invited onto Roimata Marae in the Bay of Plenty to witness a one-of-a-kind science lab. The stranding of forty pilot whales near Opotiki in 2014 was a significant event that was seen Maori reclaim and assert their customary rights to Tohora.
Under the guidance of whale expert Ramari Stewart, the iwi Te Upokorehe took on the responsivity to harvest and process the pod of pilot whales that died on their shores of Ohiwa Harbour.
"The idea of setting up a lab in the Marae really excited me, It has brought this place alive it is the whale place now it just gives us back our empathy with the whale which we lost," Stewart says.
The skull of 40 Tohora – or pilot whales – are being preserved for scientific research this includes measuring, weighing and creating a record
Ramari Stewart has spent a lifetime accumulating customary and modern scientific whale knowledge. Her skills and experience with whales have taken her all around the world.
“I’m always pushing those barriers but now the barriers are down it is up to us to push our capacity.”
