Tāua e Moana Voyage – Ngā Pū Toru

In a unique collaboration with local environmental NGOs Kōrero o te ‘Ōrau and Te Ipukarea Society, the voyage aims to bring ocean health education and awareness and knowledge sharing throughout Pa ‘Enua, the team earlier went to the Northern Group of the Cook Islands and now they have started on the Ngā Pū Toru (southern group) for a 14 day journey.  The team will voyage to Atiu, Mitiaro, Mauke, Magaia and return to Rarotonga. 

 

The name Tāua e Moana describes the idea of kinship where we all should develop and foster our personal relationship with the ocean.  The crew hopes to engage with the Pa ‘Enua – sharing and recording stories of ocean sustainability, voyaging histories and stories of the ‘eke from each island visited.  

 

The vaka will also serve as a research vessel – collecting microplastics samples from the ocean throughout the voyage as plastic does not disappear – but breaks down into smaller pieces.   Microplastics are very small pieces of plastic and relatively little is known about their presence in the Cook Islands.  Kōrero o te ‘Ōrau will be engaging in coral sampling and checking for taramea in the marine environment, and sharing their ‘Ātui’anga ki te Tango programme with communities visited. Te Ipukarea Society will be delivering ocean pollution presentations to schools, what the issues are, and local solutions. A wider community presentation on the potential impacts of Seabed mining will also be presented alongside Korero o te orau and discussed in-depth on each island.  

 

The voyage was made possible by supporting partners Nia Tero, Seacology and Synchronicity Earth, whose goals align with the indigenous and environmental missions carried by the three NGOs collaborating on this voyage.