FILMING COMPLETED

Episode Structure

Older than the dinosaurs: Kanakana (Piharau) and the people who carry them

In this episode, we follow the bonds between people and kanakana (Piharau), from a coastal whānau hoping to bring this ancient fish home and a breeding programme reviving them in the south — and the shared work of carrying these ancient fish, and the knowledge they hold, safely into the future.

Episode Summary

Jamie — a self-described "salty" whose playground has always been the moana — steps away from the coast to learn about kanakana, also known as piharau: two names for the same remarkable fish, the New Zealand pouched lamprey. Jawless, boneless and sucker-mouthed, its lineage stretches back more than 350 million years — older than the dinosaurs — yet its numbers have fallen sharply in just the last 20 to 30 years.

The journey begins at Waikanae on the Kāpiti Coast, where the whānau of Whakarongotai hope to bring piharau back to their awa. For them, the health of the fish and the health of the people are inseparable: if the waterways are crying out, the responsibility is to listen. Jamie joins Mohi and Kristie as they travel south to the Hokonui Rūnanga, where their cousin Riki and his team have turned a shed into the first kanakana breeding programme of its kind — blending mātauranga Māori with western science to one day let every iwi harvest sustainably again.

At Te Au Nui Pihapiha Kanakana, the Mataura Falls, the group joins a harvest below a century-old former paper mill whose wall now blocks the fish's migration. Together they carry the kanakana above the barrier so they can continue the journey they have made for millions of years. Through the breeding programme, the translocation, and the kapa haka now teaching tamariki these stories, the episode shows how knowledge and hands-on restoration are being woven together to carry kanakana — and the people connected to them — forward.

Featuring

• Jamie McCaskill - Series Presenter

• Riki Parata - Hokonui Rūnanga, Kanakana (piharau) breeding programme coordinator

• Luka Finn - Taonga Research Lead Researcher

• Kristie Parata - Te Ati Awa ki Whakarongotai

• Mohi Edwin - Te Ati Awa ki Whakarongotai

• Tiffany Manihera Richards - Te Ati Awa ki Whakarongotai

• Te Ihi o Māruawai Kapa Haka:

  • Ivory Manukau (Māruawai College) - Waikato, Ngāpuhi, Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi

  • Saiyan Manukau (Māruawai College) - Waikato, Ngāpuhi, Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi

  • Te Aitanga Smith (Māruawai College) - Ngāti Kahungunu

  • Arona Smith (Māruawai College) - Ngāti Kahungunu

  • Tegan Harris (Māruawai College)

  • Paige Harris (Māruawai College)

  • Peter Mahia (Māruawai College) - Tūhoe, Ngāti Kahungunu

  • Alexi Brunton (Māruawai College)

  • Summah Mason (Māruawai College) - Ngāti Porou

  • Tayla Glover (Māruawai College)

  • Kiahna Marsh (Māruawai College) - Ngāti Porou, Ngāriki Kaipūtahi, Te Whānau-ā-Takimoana, Ngāpuhi

  • Moana-Alev Turkmen (Blue Mountains College) - Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Awa

  • Bruce Eales (Blue Mountains College) - Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Awa

  • Boston Setefano (Blue Mountains College) - Ngāti Porou

  • Sam Hadfield (Māruawai College – guitarist)

  • Courtney Bennett (Tutor)

  Contributing Experts

• Jane Kitson - Researcher, company director (Kitson Consulting Ltd)

• Riki Parata - Hokonui Rūnanga, Kanakana (piharau) breeding programme coordinator

• Terry Nicholas (Kaiwhakahaere)

• Jim Geddes - Māruwai Centre

• Te Ati Awa ki Whakarongotai - Kaumātua support

• Kristie Parata - Te Atiawa ki Kāpiti

• Mohi Edwin - Te Atiawa ki Kāpiti

• Tiffany Manihera Richards - Te Atiawa ki Kāpiti

• Nanny Rangikaira (Jennifer) and Koko Steve, Cultural knowledge and traditional practices - Te Atiawa ki Kāpiti

• Kara Kearney - Te Atiawa ki Kāpiti

• Liam McAuliffe - Te Atiawa ki Kāpiti

• Matua Tutiri Parata - Elder, traditional knowledge holder, memories of last piharau harvest

• Liz Gibson - Freshwater Manager, Mountains to Sea (eDNA testing)

• Aaron Kearney - Traditional knowledge holder, history of mahinga kai/gathering

References

https://www.kapakapanui.school.nz/1484/embedded_items/14-te-haerenga-o-kapakapanui-the-journey-of-kapakapanui

Filming locations

• Whakarongotai Marae (Kāpiti)

• Kāpiti area streams and rivers

• Hokonui Rūnanga

• Paper mill & Mataura falls

• Mataura river (upstream from falls, with falls in background)

• Mataura river (upstream, above Gore town bridge)