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Restoration of Koaro (Galaxias Brevipinnis) in a New Zealand Lake - Integrating Traditional Indigenous Resource Management Practices with Contemporary Conservation Biology

Kim Young

Department of Conservation, ROTORUA, NEW ZEALAND

Theme: TH3

A collaborative project between the Department of Conservation and Maori to restore a traditional native fishery comprising koaro (Galaxias brevipinnis) in a central North Island lake provides a case study for conservation project design that integrates traditional natural resource management practices of an indigenous people with a contemporary western scientific approach. The establishment of a world-renowned rainbow trout fishery in the volcanically formed Rotorua lakes complex in the 1880s resulted in the demise of an existing native fishery that strongly contributed to the cultural identity of central North Island Maori as a inland freshwater lakes people, and formed an integral faunal element of the natural character of the lakes themselves. An opportunity for a collaborative effort to explore the restoration of the natural character of a lacustrine ecosystem has arisen from the Department of Conservation's commitment to maintaining viable populations of native freshwater species within their natural range and an interest by local Maori to re-establish their native fishery. Selection of an appropriate lake, and development of an overall project goal that reflects both partners aspirations, is no easy task and to an extent will be derived from a feasibility study. The goal must provide for a level of koaro harvest for traditional use while achieving restoration of viable koaro populations using conventional ecological understanding of population dynamics. In addition, the site-selection process and determined goal must anticipate social conflict generated by the need to remove valued but introduced trout from the chosen lake. The project is currently in its formative stages and once the lake has been chosen, and goals and objectives have been defined, the project will be implemented in a series of phases with restoration targets for each phase defined within spatial and temporal boundaries according to ecological feasibility and social acceptability.