Nomad Ocean Ep.5 – Setting sails … and what the Environment Court has to do with it

Good things come to those who wait, they say. For the last three months, I have done quite a bit of waiting… waiting for this day to come: The day of our departure to sail around New Zealand.

It is a day, that has been postponed too many times for my taste. Even though it was all for a very good reason: Over the last four years, T.A. has worked as a technical advisor for the Motiti Rohe Moana Trust, a kaitiaki guardian trust supported by the elders of the island of Motiti in the Bay of Plenty on the east coast of North Island, an island, T.A. is connected with over 19 generations of whakapapa (genealogy).

And if anyone knows about waiting and persistence, it is them: For the last nine years, the trust has done everything to achieve one goal: To be able to protect their Rohe Moana, their ocean, their reefs and coastal lines from the adverse effects of overfishing, destructive take-out-methods and pollution. In short: To practise kaitiakitanga (guardian-/stewardship), a responsibility Maori people take over the environment they are connected with through Whakapapa (genealogy).