Moana New Zealand, contract fishers and iwi mobilised quickly to send kai to the east coast of New Zealand after recent weather events caused severe flooding and damage to communities.
In the immediate period post Cyclone Gabrielle, we emptied our shelves of packed food in the form of long-life bread and meals-ready-to-eat (MREs) to affected communities via volunteer and local emergency organisations.
Moana New Zealand’s long-life bread is a world first—the bread is individually packed with a shelf life of 36 months. Moana developed the long-life bread as part of our range of tasty and nutritious MREs.
As the need for sustained sources of kai grew in severely impacted communities, iwi leaders came together to use customary permits to provide ika for additional and sustained relief.
Moana and our contract fishers worked with the Chair of the Mai Ngā Kuri a Whārei ki Tihirau Iwi Customary Fisheries Forum Jonathan (Hone) Te Rire, Pelco, RMD, and the Ministry for Primary Industries; we banded together to support the kaupapa and managed the logistics and handling of the customary ika so that it could be stored and distributed appropriately.
Thirteen metric tonnes of customary ika were supplied and distributed to iwi and whanaunga in flood-impacted areas.
The kaupapa is longstanding mahi that brought together iwi from around the region to work collaboratively so the customary take could be used to help deliver ika when times arise to help tangata whenua.
We acknowledge the work of Mai Ngā Kurī a Whārei ki Tihirau Iwi Customary Fisheries Forum and the Chair Jonathan (Hone) Te Rire. They represent 14 Bay of Plenty iwi and their shared, collaborative iwi rohe moana in the inshore and beyond of Te Waiariki to Mai Ngā Kurī a Whārei ki Tihirau was recently approved by the Minister of Fisheries.
It is the first regional iwi collaborative rohe moana for the inshore established under challenging government regulations. It pushed the boundaries having all their iwi around the table, but with Covid-19 came a common vision of feeding whānau in need that unified the iwi.
We acknowledge all the people who contributed to this kaupapa that preceded recent events.
Penetaka (Brian) Dickson is known for his role as CEO of Ngāi Te Rangi iwi where he served for well over 20 years. Other fisheries-related roles include Chair of Tauranga Moana Iwi Customary Committee, founding director of the iwi AHC, Ngāi Te Rangi Fisheries, and life director of Mataatua Quota Holdings. Penetaka was instrumental in the Iwi Collective Partnership’s establishment and remained a strong advocate before his passing.
We also acknowledge current CEO Maru Samuels of the Iwi Collective Partnership; Rodney Voullaire and Sandra Mauger from the Ministry for Primary Industries; Nathan Reid and the Moana team; Roger Rawlinson, Dan Rawlinson, Steve Krynicki and the RMD team; and Andrew Rolleston and the Pelco team.