Posted on Wednesday 5 December 2018

Growing a successful and sustainable Māori marine economy

The Sustainable Seas research team led by Dr John Reid and Dr Jason Mika have identified five key factors that will drive growth of the Māori marine economy: 

• the continued development of Māori customary rights;
• integration of hapū and whanau into iwi and pan-iwi economic activity;
• an integrated value chain where as many elements as possible are owned by Māori;
• branding and marketing that is inspired by hapū and iwi stories, symbols and designs which communicate their whakapapa and connection to tipuna and whenua;
• that provenance and authentication and traceability are communicated to the consumer in a way that is grounded in tikanga Maori.

These key success factors are discussed in a recently published literature review which was produced as part of their project which aims to create the foundation for a world leading indigenous blue economy in New Zealand.  

Dr Mika and Dr Reid and a team of interdisciplinary researchers (Matthew Rout,   Annemarie Gillies, Billie Lythberg, Dan Hikuroa,  Leane Makey,  Shaun Awatere, Fiona Wiremu, Mylene Rakena, Kate Davies) examined over 150 articles and reports to produce the review.   The team welcome feedback on the literature review and plan to publish an updated version at the end of the project.  Contact Frances White at Massey University F.K.White@massey.ac.nz with any feedback before the end of February 2019.