Ao Tawhiti Unlimited Discovery and Te Tuna Tāone - Saving the longfin tuna

Te Tuna Tāone's vision is: Healthy urban waterways so the longfin tuna (eel) thrives.

There are a lot of interesting facts to learn about tuna. Jenny came to Ao Tawhiti Unlimited Discovery to explain everything about this taonga species; their physiology, habits, and risks to their continuation as a species. 

Ākonga were so motivated that they decided to do a flash mob in the city centre to increase public awareness of these creatures. 

“The tamariki were really inspired by what they learnt working with Jenny and have come up with some brilliant ideas to take action”.

Katherine, Ao Tawhiti Unlimited Discovery School Learning Advisor 

To encourage us all to do the right thing for tuna and the stormwater, ākonga organised a flash mob. The aim of the flash mob was to get people to love the longfin tuna and help it by keeping our stormwater clean.

“People are surprised to hear that most of Ōtautahi’s stormwater flows directly to our streams and the ocean untreated”.

Jenny Bond, Te Tuna Tāone | Urban Eel facilitator

They worked really hard; choreographing the dance, making branded t-shirts, even publishing information pamphlets to give out to members of the public on the day. Ākonga showed people through the interactive Stormwater Superhero Trailer.

“Most people seem to think that because the stormwater goes down the drain then the council must look after it - and somehow it gets cleaned before flowing to our rivers and sea, which is incorrect” says Jenny. “People just really aren’t sure or haven’t thought about it”.

The mahi didn’t finish there. The Y5–6 ākonga, along with the Avon River Ōtākaro Network, were involved in cleaning parts of the Ōtākaro river and sorting the rubbish they found into the right bins. Ākonga were also involved in growing hundreds of native plants along the river. 

“They are really motivated to improve the habitat of the tuna tāone by cleaning up rubbish from our awa, planting native species along the riverbanks near the Climate Action Campus, and raising awareness of the plight of these amazing creatures.”

Katherine, Ao Tawhiti Unlimited Discovery School Learning Advisor 

Planting alongside the river will improve the habitat for the longfin tuna. 

This is mahi that will have a long-lasting effect on the tamariki involved as well as the longfin tuna.

• Tuna is the Māori name for eel.
• It is a taonga species to Māori, a significant mahinga kai resource and a taniwha guardian of our environment.
• It is one of two tuna species found in Te Wai Pounamu. The other is the shortfin tuna which is not at risk.
• The Department of Conservation classifies longfin tuna as a species ‘At Risk and Declining’.
• The longfin tuna is native to Aotearoa.
• Tuna have been around for over 20 million years and survived ice ages.
• In pre-Pākehā times, tuna could reach over 100 years old, grow longer than 2 metres and weigh up to 40kg. Tuna used to out-live humans and now we outlive them.
  
• Today we are lucky to see a tuna reach 60 years old and weigh more than 10kg.
  
• Tuna have the most remarkable life cycle. They breed only once at the age of a ‘grandparent’, in the waters near Tonga before dying. The ocean’s currents carry their transparent leaf-shaped larvae back to Aotearoa waters, where they change into glass tuna before reaching our estuaries. They then adjust to freshwater, change colour, and become elvers (young tuna). The rest of their long lives are then spent in our fresh waters, lakes, rivers, streams, wetlands and ponds.
• There are many reasons for their decline: 
  • Habitat - their homes and food source have been depleted, drainage, urbanisation, lack of streamside native plantings.
  • Stormwater pollution, sediment, litter, poor water quality.
  • Historically (1950s) large tuna were killed to (mistakenly) protect trout.
  • Commercial fishing.

Te Tuna Tāone and the Stormwater Superhero Trailer projects are supported by Christchurch Envirohub. 

• Te Tuna Tāone - Christchurch Envirohub
• Stormwater Superhero Trailer - Christchurch Envirohub 

Te Tuna Tāone | Urban Eel Program - comes in four stages:

1. an introductory talk about tuna and the awa, why they are threatened, and what we can do about it
2. a stream immersion day where young people get to see and assess macroinvertebrates, fish, habitat and hopefully see tuna in their local stream
3. the longest component an action design unit where young people get to design actions (with our support) to help our tuna and awa
4. and finally reflect on those actions and celebrate.
   

Funding for these projects comes from the Christchurch City Council Innovation & Sustainability Fund and Environment Canterbury.

• Sustainability Fund : Christchurch City Council 

Advocating for the Ōtākaro Avon River & Red Zone Avon Otakaro Network