Project background

Marine reserves meet many conservation objectives but often conflict with iwi-hapu objectives for marine management. This project sought to understand more about how marine reserves and alternative methods of marine management contribute to meeting iwi/hapu objectives.

Research undertaken at two Marine Reserves in the East Coast Hawke’s Bay region will assist in determining how both iwi-hapu and conservation objectives can be met through particular management methods. It will also promote an appreciation and understanding of iwi-hapu interests, values and knowledge associated with marine management. 

This was a collaborative partnership project between Ngati Kere, Ngati Konohi, the Department of Conservation and the Ministry for the Environment.  The project was funded by the Ministry for Research, Science and Technology in 2000, planning and preparation took place in 2001 and the project ran for three years between 2002 and 2005. The three overall project objectives were:

1. To identify specific iwi-hapu objectives, interests and expectations for marine management

2. To define a process to identify iwi-hapu marine indicators [tohu] of environmental performance  and pilot their implementation.

3. To measure different species assemblages at a range of trophic levels in order to test how marine reserves and controlled areas (including some manipulations, taiapure or mataitai) contribute to meeting iwi-hapu and conservation objectives.

The Ngati Kere, Ngati Konohi, Department of Conservation and Ministry for the Environment project involved a number of interrelated research teams working on community research and ecological science in the two rohe.