Adaptive co-management and Participatory Action Research (PAR) promotes social ecological resilience by simultaneously protecting wildlife and its habitat and promoting capacity and motivation for sustainable harvest management by communities. We report here on a case study of Z09009; Online publication date
techniques within the traditional harvest are considered. Learning and social mechanisms for the titi harvest are based on the foundation of tikanga (protocol) and kaitiakitanga (environmental guardianship), but are demonstrably adaptive, building the resilience and social-ecological sustainability of this culturally-fundamental harvest.Keywords adaptive co-management; lore and law; Puffinus griseus; tikanga; tītī harvesting; Traditional Ecological Knowledge Abstract In a fast-changing world, successful communication of traditional cultural principles and practices of guardianship and stewardship across generations is more important than ever before. This study investigates knowledge and learning in relation to the last large-scale customary harvest of a seabird in New Zealand, the titi (Puffinus griseus), by Rakiura Maori. Semi-directed interviews were conducted with 20 titi-harvesting elders. We sought firstly to identify the key knowledge-holders and mechanisms for the transmission of ecological knowledge, as well as the cultural and spiritual beliefs interwoven with harvest practice. Secondly, we sought to identify modern challenges to traditional pathways of learning, and the changing roles of knowledge holders in the harvesting community. Traditional approaches, including observation, hands-on experience, and storytelling, continue as the main mechanisms for knowledge transmission. Awareness of ancestors (tupuna) and taboo improve compliance of accepted harvesting practices, reinforcing the connection of Rakiura Maori to the harvesting islands and fostering a strong conservation ethic. However, modern needs and pressures appear to threaten the transmission of knowledge between successive generations. The effects, both positive and negative, of the adoption of modern processing, transport and communication
Sooty shearwaters (tītī, muttonbird, Puffinus griseus) are highly abundant migratory seabirds, which return to breeding colonies in New Zealand. The Rakiura Māori annual chick harvest on islands adjacent to Rakiura (Stewart Island), is one of the last large-scale customary uses of native wildlife in New Zealand. This study aimed to establish whether the rate at which muttonbirders can extract chicks from their breeding burrows indicates population trends of sooty shearwaters. Harvest rates increased slightly with increasing chick densities on Putauhinu Island. Birders' harvest rates vary in their sensitivities to changing chick density. Therefore a monitoring panel requires careful screening to ensure that harvest rates of the birders selected are sensitive to chick density, and represents a cross-section of different islands. Though harvest rates can provide only a general index of population change, it can provide an inexpensive and feasible way to measure population trends. Detecting trends is the first step to assessing the long-term sustainability of the harvest.
Sooty shearwater chicks (Puffinus griseus) harvested by Rakiura Maori on Putauhinu Island in the 1997-1999 muttonbirding seasons were larger and more developed than randomly available chicks. Early in the season, when muttonbirders extracted chicks from burrows during the day, this difference may have resulted directly from harvesters selecting areas with higher quality chicks, or indirectly from their selecting higher occupancy or more accessible areas. Later in the season, chicks were harvested after they emerged from burrows at night. Initially, relatively few, light chicks with more developed feathers emerged, and selection between them was relatively weak. As chicks became more abundant, muttonbirders selected heavier, less downy chicks with longer wings. Muttonbirders often rejected small chicks, but there was evidence for selection of larger, more developed chicks even above the estimated reject weight. When undisturbed, higher quality chicks would probably have higher survival and probability of recruitment. Harvesting larger chicks will therefore have a greater impact on the population than randomly harvesting chicks. Models investigating harvest impacts should incorporate chick quality to avoid under-estimating harvest when assessing the long-term sustainability of a culturally important traditional harvest for Rakiura Maori.
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