Tuna surveying
By Tegan Ramage
The tauira, along with facilitator Matt Dale, set hīnaki in multiple areas stretching from the Mataura Mātaitai through to Wyndham and Edendale, where they caught tuna to investigate. The tauira said that they caught both Perch and Tuna on the day.
Kaloni Taylor releasing tuna after surveying.
There were two separate buckets, one was a mix of water and clove oil, which was used to sedate the tuna, so they were easier to handle.
The tauira estimated that they had caught, measured, and weighed around 300 tuna.
Josh Aitkens said that for the larger tuna, two people are required, one to support its head and the other person to support its spine. After the tuna were weighed and measured, they were then placed into a second bucket, where they were able to readjust before releasing.
In terms of water safety, Sentre Harden shared that they were to walk up stream and then based on your size and weight would determine how a person would cross. Sentre shared that he was to walk across the river on a diagonal, in comparison to Kaloni Taylor who shared that he felt like he had an advantage, because based on his size he was able to go straight across the river, set the hīnaki and retrieve the hīnaki first in comparison to the others in the group.
The tauira were taught pawhara, known as the cleaning and preparing of tuna, and Vincent Leith directed this process.
Kaloni Taylor said that he enjoyed setting the hīnaki and the highlight for all the tauira present was eating them (tuna).
Josh Aitkens shared that a highlight for him was catching the biggest tuna on the day.
Posted: 10 May 2022