Customary practices are alive and well among indigenous people in the Pacific, and leaders are looking to embed them further into the Western framework, especially in conservation efforts for protecting whales.
They plan to use concepts such as rāhui in the context of marine resource protection, as a temporary restriction on access to a marine area to allow resources to replenish. There is a similar practice in the 15 islands of the Cook Islands called marae moana, where certain islands have temporary restrictions to gather fish.
A spokesperson for Ui Ariki Ngateitei o te Kuki Airani Inc Society, a customary leadership body in the Cook Islands that represents the House of Ariki (Cook Islands Māori: Are Ariki), Puna Rakanui says “It’s a rāhui. The marae moana is the entire exclusive economic zone of the Cook Islands and we have imposed a customary rāhui on that.”
Pacific leaders want to use marae moana and rāhui to protect whales as they journey across the Pacific during their migratory routes or whale corridors.
“The same concept can also be applied to our tohorā but, depending on the corridor, the corridor does not just end in the Cook Islands, the link is also right up to Tahiti, even way down to Tonga, and then even Samoa, back to New Zealand,” Rakanui says.
Ngāti Wai leader Aperahama Edwards says, “He tae mai te tau ka heke ngā tohorā mai i ngā waimahana o Te Moananui-a-Kiwa ki ngā wai kōpeke, he tae mai te tau ka hoki anō ki ngā wai mahana. Nā, he mea nui tērā mō te oranga tonutanga o te taiao moana, huri i Te Moananui-a-Kiwa kia tautiaki i te mauri tonu o aua ara heke ngā tohorā.”
“Every year whales migrate from the warm waters of the Pacific Ocean to the cooler waters, and every year they return again to the warm waters. This is important for the sustainability of the marine environment throughout the Pacific, to protect the life force of those whale migration pathways,” Edwards says.
As an example, the Cook Islands extends to 50 nautical miles from each island which is about 370,000 square kilometres of protected ocean - that’s with no commercial fishing or whales being hit by shipping.
Already, in March this year, the Pacific leaders signed He Whakaputanga Moana - to give whales legal personhood, and these whale corridors add another layer of protection.
“He mea whakahirahira tēnei ki a Ngāti Wai, ka hia tau ki muri i tohe a Ngāti Wai kia hūnukutia te ara haere a ngā kaipuke i roto i a mātou kia kaua e tuki ki ngā tohoraha. He whakawhirinaki ngātahi ki ngā mana nui o te moana nui a Kiwa kia kōkiri ngātahi i tēnei kaupapa, kia tiakina, te tupua nei Kia tiakina te tupuna, arā te tohorā, hei aha, kia ū tonu mai ai ngā hua ki ō tātou uri whakaheke e ara mai nei,” Edwards says.
“This is of great importance to Ngāti Wai, as many years ago Ngāti Wai advocated for the shipping routes within our waters to be relocated to prevent collisions with whales. It involves working collaboratively with great authorities of the Pacific Ocean to advance this initiative, to protect the sacred being, to protect the ancestor - the whale, so that the benefits may continue to flow to our future generations who are yet to come.”
Rakanui says “A lot of work to be done. A lot of research, scientific research, and what’s not in data collection. To make sure what we’re doing.”
