UN Ocean Conference 2025
Manuhiri Kaitiaki Charitable Trust is privileged to attend the UN Ocean Conference 2025 and share our unique approach to marine kaitiakitanga (guardianship).
We invite you to learn about our vital work in restoring and protecting our marine environment through the application of mātauranga Māori (traditional Māori knowledge), and to explore opportunities for collaboration and investment in our impactful initiatives.
Our Chief Executive, Nicola Rata-MacDonald MNZM, will be participating in Ocean Action Panel 8: Promoting and supporting all forms of cooperation, especially at the regional and sub regional level on Thursday 12 June at 3:00pm. Click the button below to watch the live stream.
About Manuhiri Kaitiaki Charitable Trust
Manuhiri Kaitiaki Charitable Trust (MKCT) is the operational arm of Ngāti Manuhiri Settlement Trust (NMST).
In 2012, Ngāti Manuhiri achieved their Treaty Settlement with the Crown. The Ngāti Manuhiri Settlement Trust (NMST) is a post settlement governance entity (PSGE) who are the mandated and approved entity to represent Ngāti Manuhiri and its environs.
Ngāti Manuhiri negotiators signing the Deed of Settlement in 2012.
Our work centres on the protection of te taiao (the environment), reinvigoration of community purpose and service, maintaining our cultural integrity and investing to support the economic prosperity of future generations.
Use the links below to learn more about a few of our marine restoration and protection projects.
Our team at UNOC2025
Click the photos below to learn more about our team attending UNOC2025 and how to get in touch.
Whakatō Kūtai
Mussel Reef Restoration
Kūtai (green lipped musselfs) are ecosystem engineers, providing food, shelter, and protection for other species, and can filter impurities from seawater. Kūtai reefs stabilise the seafloor, reducing wave energy and the re-suspension of sediment. They also remove harmful forms of nitrogen and lock away carbon — critical for helping mitigate the effects of climate change.
That's why we — along with our partners at Revive Our Gulf, the Nature Conservancy New Zealand and the University of Auckland — placed more than 7 million kūtai back into Kawau Bay on Monday 29 July 2024.
In the 1950s and 1960s, the extensive kūtai reefs of Te Moananui-ā-Toi (the Hauraki Gulf) were commercially dredged to the point of collapse. Despite the advent of mussel farming, wild mussels never returned in large numbers.
This deployment is the opportunity to discover new kinds of restoration work utilising nature’s medicine — in this case, kūtai. Guided by mātauranga Māori we are working to return Te Moananui-ā-Toi to a thriving, abundant part of our rohe that benefits all.
Our kūtai were originally collected from Te Oneroa-a-Tōhe/Ninety Mile Beach and grown to size on a mussel farm in Manaia. Now they have reached Hauraki Gulf, the natural mahi is underway, as the mussels help filter the water, creating a cleaner environment for sealife to harbour and flourish.
By re-establishing these kūtai reefs, we are taking action to reverse the human impacts on the Gulf, and give our wai a fighting chance to ensure it is stable enough to support us now and into the future.
Te Wero Nui
Combatting Caulerpa
When Exotic Caulerpa (Caulerpa brachypus and Caulerpa parvifolia, as opposed to the existing varieties of Caulerpa native to New Zealand) made its way to our shores, Ngāti Manuhiri were at the forefront of eradicating the invasive seaweed from our rohe moana (the area of ocean within the Trust's traditional boundaries).
Exotic Caulerpa was first discovered at Aotea (Great Barrier Island) and Ahuahu (Great Mercury Island) in New Zealand in July 2021. The Trust immediately recognised that this seaweed posed an existential threat to our native benthic habitats, so was quick to act when it was discovered in our rohe moana at Kawau Island two years later, in July 2023.
While this patch is still being managed, we learnt that the most effective way to eradicate Exotic Caulerpa is through decisive action - not waiting for Government to respond. So when a patch of Caulerpa was located at Leigh on Friday 7 June, we acted immediately.
Our kaitiaki were in the water straight away to understand the size and extent of the issue and implement an immediate treatment plan: on Monday 9 June we were working with our partners to apply chlorine treatments and benthic liners, and the very next day we confirmed the Exotic Caulerpa was dead - the first and only successful eradication of Exotic Caulerpa in New Zealand to date.
We remain on high alert to this threat, and continue to advocate to the New Zealand Government to invest in community led action to address Caulerpa at place.
In the media:
Te Au o Moana
Ocean Strategy
Te Au ō Moana is our ocean strategy, a strategic framework that encapsulates a wide array of concerted efforts and visionary projects aimed at restoration, mitigation, and the safeguarding of our ocean environments.
It serves as a holistic blueprint, unifying the Trust's dedicated leadership and execution of initiatives intended to revitalise, preserve, and shield our ocean ecosystems.
Through this multifaceted strategy, we endeavour to uphold our commitment to sustainable stewardship, nurturing a harmonious balance between community engagement, ecological revival, and the long-term protection of our precious marine resources.
In the media:
Great Boat Protest
Preventing sea-based sand mining
We were proud to support the Great Boat Protest over the weekend, to bring attention to the impact of sea-based sand mining. On Sunday 16 March, our marine team traveled to Te Paepae ō Tū in support of our whanaunga from Patuharakeke and the wider community who are standing together against sand mining in their rohe. We stand alongside Patuharakeke and the community in this fight. When iwi, hapū, and communities come together, we are stronger—just as our ancestors intended.
If approved, McCallum Bros will dredge 17 km² of seabed, just 4.2 km from shore, using a trailing suction dredge. This process will release fine sediment plumes that degrade water quality, smother marine life, and extend well beyond the mining site.
The long-term impacts include:
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Coastal and river erosion weakening shorelines
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Seabed destruction disrupting ecosystems and ocean currents
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Toxic sediment plumes lowering oxygen levels and threatening marine biodiversity
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Threats to fisheries, tourism, and local livelihoods
Our moana is not an endless resource to be exploited, and the health of our waters, our marine life, and our coastal communities must come before corporate profit. This is not just a local issue—it’s a crisis for te taiao. If we allow this, what comes next? We must protect our moana.
In the media:
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Bream Bay sand mining plan sparks local opposition and cultural concerns
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Bream Bay sand mining 14,000-strong protest petition to be given to Parliament