<
https://reasonstobecheerful.world/rahui-marine-conservation-french-polynesia/>
"Located in a quiet part of Tahiti, in French Polynesia, the village of Tautira
sits on the ocean’s edge, framed by black sand beaches and a turquoise lagoon.
With a population of just over 2,500, Tautira is known as the “village at the
end of the road.” Beyond it is the island’s last truly wild coastline,
accessible only on foot or by boat. Tautira is the kind of place where everyone
is a “cousin,” “aunty” or “uncle”; smiles are generous; and kids play soccer on
the street. Some families here still live off the land, selling fish, fruits
and vegetables by the road to make ends meet.
On a balmy day in May 2023, for the first time in four years, the lagoon in
Tautira saw the return of its apex predator. A group of about 50 local fishers,
armed with fishing lines and spearguns, gathered at the marina at midday and
pulled out coolers laden with their catches: crimson-red, bulging-eyed
blotcheye soldierfish; green-and-blue-hued parrotfish the length of a man’s
arm, and unicornfish with their distinctive hornlike noses. Over two mornings,
the fishers caught around one ton of fish — equal to more than 2,500 individual
fish. Just five years ago, fishers would have been lucky to get that many fish
in one week. The impressive catch was a testament to an ancient eastern
Polynesian practice, known as rāhui, that might just be a key to developing
sustainable, community-led solutions in Tahiti’s depleted coastal ecosystems.
A rāhui is, in essence, an area of land or water with a temporary limit on
collecting a resource, such as a particular fish or fruit. In time, once the
resource has had time to replenish, the rāhui is lifted. The word rāhui has
many meanings in Polynesia. It can refer to a management system, a practice, a
place, a belief, a law or a lens through which related actions are assessed.
The concept of rāhui has existed in Polynesia — the more than 1,000 islands
from New Zealand in the southwest, to Hawai‘i in the north, to Tahiti in the
southeast — since before Europeans arrived in the South Pacific. These islands
share similar languages and cultures and enjoy a long history of trade and
connection."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
