Digging up an estuary's early history

What began as a study of traditional fishing practices has evolved into an investigation into Maori settlement of the Waimea Estuary area, and its marine life.

Sarah Coup has spent the last couple of months working alongside Richard de Hamel from the New Zealand Marine Studies Centre in Mapua, after she was awarded a science fellowship administered by the Royal Society of New Zealand.

The fellowship allows teachers to take time off school to work with someone in the science or technology field and carry out a project of their choosing.

Ms Coup, who is the senior teacher of the Whanau unit at Motueka's Parklands School, initially wanted to look at the sustainable ways Maori caught fish in the region, such as using hooks that juvenile and larger breeding fish were unable to hook themselves on.

However, the more digging Ms Coup did, the more she uncovered about the life of Maori who lived around the estuary.

"Part of it was going back and looking at what was here [at the estuary]. Then I started researching and becoming very interested in the early occupation of the Waimea Estuary."

Especially illuminating have been the journals of Fred Knapp, who in the late 1800s and early 1900s spent a large amount of time fossicking in the area and detailing his discoveries.

Among his finds were sinker stones off Rabbit Island, which he believed came from fishing nets used by Maori.

Another reference was a book by JD Peart, who talked to many kaumatua and kuia about traditional ways of life.

Much of that information was lost when local iwi were wiped out by Te Rauparaha's war parties in the 1820s.

Ms Coup and Mr de Hamel are also to look at the marine life that is in the estuary, as well as remnants at old midden (rubbish) sites to see what may have been eaten and what the environment may have been like.

"There wasn't a huge amount of information about the sort of fish you'd find in the Waimea Estuary," Ms Coup said.

The investigation into traditional fishing practices will continue, with the pair baiting up and trying out a variety of Maori fishing hook reproductions, and seeing whether they match what has been found in the old Maori midden sites.

"We were really interested in the hooks and looking at the traditional pieces and figuring out how they worked," she said.

Ms Coup said what she finds out will be used by Mr de Hamel as part of his Maori fishing technology programme, a kit to go to schools and within the Mapua community.

- © Fairfax NZ News