A tale of two taonga: mutualistic research and management of heritage landscapes on Codfish Island (Whenua Hou), Aotearoa New Zealand

ABSTRACT

Biological and cultural heritage features regularly coexist and overlap within landscapes, creating complex management challenges. Codfish Island (Whenua Hou), Aotearoa New Zealand, exemplifies such a landscape, containing cultural and biological taonga (treasures) of national and international importance. Here, the last breeding colony of the critically endangered Whenua Hou Diving Petrel (Pelecanoides whenuahouensis) exists within archaeological sites preserving a rich Māori history and the earliest documented European settlement in southern Aotearoa New Zealand. The proximity of the breeding habitat of an endangered species to significant cultural heritage previously led to competing stakeholder interests which limited research and effective management. We present a mutualistic approach to landscape management on Codfish Island, which has resulted in positive outcomes for archaeological research, cultural heritage management, biological research, and conservation management. Collaborations like this are applicable in other heritage rich landscapes. Our mutualistic approach also forms a foundation for future joint monitoring schemes and research, facilitating transparent and informed management of both tangible and intangible components of the landscape.

Tuhinga whakarāpopoto

Rite tonu te nohotahi, te inakinaki o ngā āhua koiora tuku iho, me ngā āhua ahurea tuku iho ki ētahi whenua, e uaua rawa ai ngā wero o te whakahaere i aua whenua. Ka whakatauirahia e Whenua Hou, ki Aotearoa taua momo āhua i ngā taonga ahurea, me ngā taonga koiora e whai mana ana ā-motu, ā-ao o hoki. Ko te pūrei whakamutunga o tēnei momo kūaka, te Kūaka Whenua Hou (Whenua Hou Diving Petrel, Pelecanoides whenuahouensis) e korehāhā haere ana kei Whenua Hou, kei ngā wāhi huakanga e rokiroki ana i ngā kōrero rangatira o mua o te Māori me te nōhanga Pākehā tuatahi ki Aotearoa ki te tonga kua tuhia e ngā tumu kōrero. Nā te pātata o te whaitua oranga o tēnei momo manu e korehāhā haere ana ki tētahi wāhi tapu, tētahi wāhi taonga e pērā ana te tapu, i te tukituki ngā whaipānga, mea rawa ake, kua kore e taea te rangahau, te whakahaere tika i te wāhi nei kia eke ki te taumata e hiahiatia ana e aua whaipānga. Ko tā mātou, he tuku i tētahi ara ngākahu kotahi ki te whakahaere i te whenua ki Whenua Hou, he ara kua whai hua ngākaupai ki te rangahau whaipara tangata, he ara whakahaere ā-ahurea tuku iho he rangahau koiora, arā he whakahaerenga whakauka hoki. Ko ēnei ara mahi ngātahi, ngākau kotahi ki te rangahau, ki te whakahaere kaupapa hoki ka whai hua anō ai ki ērā atu horanuku haumako kua tukuna ihotia. Ko tā mātou aronga ngākau kotahi ka whakatakoto tūāpapa mō ētahi kaupapa ngātahi e pēnei tonu anō ana te āhua aroturuki, aro hoki ai ki te rangahau, ki te whakarite i te ara whakahaere e mārama ana, ā, e mātau ana i ngā āhuatanga tūturu, me ngā āhua waitara o te horanuku e haere ake nei.

KEYWORDS:

• Archaeology
• Codfish Island
• conservation biology
• heritage
• taonga
• Pelecanoides whenuahouensis

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the Whenua Hou Komiti and the Department of Conservation in general, and Tane Davis and Ros Cale in particular, for granting access to the island and facilitating our collaborative approach to research and management. We also thank Jason Preble and two anonymous reviewers for providing helpful comments on previous versions of this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was generously supported by the Ngāi Tahu Fund, the New Zealand Department of Conservation, the National Geographic Society [WW-249C-17], the Ornithological Society of New Zealand [Bird NZ Research Fund 2017, 2019], the Mohamed Bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund [Project 192520234], the Encounter Foundation, Forest and Bird [JS Watson Trust 2017], a public Experiment.com crowdfunder [DOI:10.18258/7331], the Centre for Biodiversity and Restoration Ecology [Student Award 2017], the Coastal Restoration Trust of New Zealand [Postgraduate Student Study Award 2016], The Royal Society of New Zealand [Hutton Fund 2017], and the Australasian Seabird Group [Student Grant 2016]. JHF was supported by a Victoria University of Wellington Doctoral Scholarship. BT was supported by a University of Otago Doctoral Scholarship.