FILMING COMPLETED

Borrowing from the Mauri: Kōura and the Care of the Lakes

In the lakes of Te Arawa, the health of a single species tells the story of a whole ecosystem. This is a story of restoration and responsibility — how communities are turning back an introduced pest, reviving a taonga species, and passing on the understanding that everything in the natural world carries a life force worth protecting.

Episode Summary

In Rotorua, Jamie discovers how kaitiaki are working to protect their ancestral lakes and the taonga within them. Central to this effort are restoration programmes that combine western science with mātauranga Māori to safeguard native species for present and future generations. At the heart of this story is the kōura, the freshwater crayfish whose stocks have collapsed since the arrival of catfish — an introduced pest that preys on kōura and other natives and degrades water quality. Fighting back are the Catfish Killas, rangatahi who trap and remove the fish as a form of hands-on science.

But this is really a story about relationship and responsibility. Jamie learns the traditional tau kōura method — bundles of bracken fern where kōura shelter — now reworked around restoration so the population always replenishes itself. Underpinning it all is the understanding that everything carries mauri, a life force to be enhanced rather than diminished. Providing kōura for the marae is bound up with the mana of the people, a value carried from childhood and extended to the generations still to come — and what Jamie arrived expecting to be a lesson in conservation turns out to be something far larger.

Contributing Experts

• Joanne Clapcott - Fish Futures freshwater ecologist

• Cory O'Neill - Kōura habitat restoration specialist

• Sarah Wharekura - Kōura monitoring and research coordinator

• Uncle Winitana Waerea - Kōura storyholder

• Caelymn O’Neill - Field assistant and kai gatherer (Cory’s nephew)

• Soweeta Fort-D'arth - Iwi advisor

• Keeley Grantham - Biosecurity officer and catfish programme coordinator

• Geraldine Cunningham - Catfish programme fascilitator, Rotorua Girls’ High School, supervising the following students:

  • Pareake Koopu - 16 (shotgun at lake & school interview 1)

  • Hineringa Falwasser - 15 (lapel mic at lake & school interview 2)

  • Satriani Ngawhika-Robinson - 16 (school interview 3)

  • Zanarah Rapana - 15 (school interview 4)

  • Luca Hiraka -16

  • Anahera Matenga - 16

• Ian Kusabs - Freshwater biologist specialising in kōura

• Nicole Hunt - Photographer and filmmaker

• Ken Raureti - Ngāti Rangitihi

• Tihini Grant - Film producer

Filming locations:(Note: more locations to be added as planning progresses)

• Catfish programme (school): Rotorua Girl’s High School: 251 Old Taupo Road, Hillcrest, Rotorua

• Catfish programme (lake): Goulding Road, Te Weta Bay, Lake Rotoiti

• Koura night spotting & underwater filming: Lake Okareka boat ramp

• Kōura 1: Lake Tarawera

• Kōura 2- With Cory's nephew (Lake Rotoiti)

Other footage:

• Underwater footage (ROV) of kōura: Olivier Raven, Waikato University