Tessa (Ngāti Raukawa)is currently completing a Master's thesis in marine biology at Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington focused on declining taonga species, toheroa (paphies ventricosa) in the Horowhenua rohe.

Tessa will apply a mātauranga Māori approach to her research and will explore the significance and value of toheroa to her whānau and hapū in the Horowhenua rohe. Tessa will then identify the point in the life cycle where toheroa is struggling and use eDNA to establish whether toheroa DNA still remains present in the Kuku Beach ecosystem. This also includes completing plankton tows and understanding the community of organisms currently present in the water column.

Lastly, Tessa will explore the adult population of toheroa through a combination of Western science using digging survey data, and mātauranga Māori methods, and compare these to samples from both Te Tai Tokerau and Te Wai Pounamu to gain a better perspective of toheroa overall. Tessa hopes that through her research she can lead the next generation to be kaitiaki of the toheroa and of Tangaroa.

Please provide an overview of your project

I was the receipient of the Te Ngake o Te Kupenga fund, which was used to support my Masters thesis – I aha ki ngā toheroa nō Horowhenua, what happened to the toheroa of the Horowhenua. My thesis investigated and documented the importance of the toheroa (Paphies ventricosa) to my iwi – Ngāti Tūkorehe and Ngāti Raukawa ki te Tonga. The toheroa has always been a taonga kaimoana species to Māori along the Horowhenua coastline, however mass declines were observed from around the 1960s to the 1980s, and the collection of toheroa was eventually banned. Māori were able to collect toheroa from 1986 through customary permits, however in recent years the toheroa have rarely been seen along our coastline.

My thesis focused firstly on telling the story of the toheroa through interviews with mana whenua, ensuring mātauranga Māori from our rohe could be heard. I then investigated the historical toheroa survey data that had been collected in the past, which showed repeated years of decline from 1965 to 1977. I then looked at where we stand today, in terms of the current state of toheroa populations in the Horowhenua. No toheroa were found during a population survey, nor were they detected using eDNA analysis. While this doesn't explicitly mean that there are no toheroa in the Horowhenua, many of my generation have never seen, nor tasted a toheroa. My project concluded that the toheroa population in the Horowhenua is in dire need of restoration, investment, and support, and it's importance to mana whenua as a taonga should not be ignored any longer.

What were the major outcomes of this kaupapa?

Since receiving the funding, I handed in my thesis and was awarded my Masters in Marine Biology with First Class Honours. My thesis achieved a grade of an A+, which I think speaks volumes to the value and importance of this kaupapa. I have also presented this mahi at two New Zealand Marine Science Society conferences (one in Wellington and one in Hobart, Tasmania), and focused on presenting the story I had learnt from my whānau who shared their kōrero with my in the interviews. At the Wellington conference I was the winner of the best student talk incorporating mātauranga Māori.

And finally last year, I was involved in the series that screened on Whakaata Māori, 1.5 degrees. My episode focused on the toheroa and our dreams to revitalize the species, and how climate change could impact these plans. This was another extremely special way to tell the story of the toheroa and get the message of the immediate need for their protection out there. I am now also a full time researcher within Te Kūwaha (Māori Environmental Research Team at NIWA), focusing on marine ecology and fisheries, and ensuring the research interests of iwi are prioritised. I am also continuing the work begun in my Masters, and am currently leading a research project to investigate climate change impacts on toheroa and their kaitiaki.

What were some of the challenges your kaupapa faced during its implementation?

I was fairly lucky throughout the process of completing my thesis, I never experienced anything majorly disruptive during my time studying. There were certainly timing delays with different components of my work, such as the eDNA sample analysis, which came down to the staff who did the work being busy with other mahi. However, apart from delays with different things, and the lengthy process of pulling together the different strands of mahi that contributed to my work, I didn't have any major obstacles during my studies.

How did this kaupapa benefit from Te Ngake o Te Kupenga fund?

There are many things I would love to continue with this kaupapa. Obviously, my project is slightly different, with it being a thesis that has been handed in. But I am really hoping that the hand in of my thesis is just the beginning of the mahi with the toheroa. I have now started mahi full time at NIWA, in their Māori Environmental Research team, Te Kūwaha. As mentioned previously, I have just secured funding to lead the completion a Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment on the toheroa.

The mahi that I completed in my thesis not only provided me with the skills I needed to progress into the field of marine science, but also the knowledge I needed to help secure further work on the species. I am now collaborating further with other communities with close relationships with the toheroa, so we can come together and share with each other. There are also three pieces of published work I hope to get out of this thesis, one of which (a journal article to be submitted to Kōtuitui) is in its final drafting stages. My dream for this kaupapa is that generations to come will be able to enjoy the joy the toheroa brings our people. There is a lot more work to do to continue the legacy of many toheroa kaitiaki across Aotearoa, and this is just the beginning.