Kaumātua recalls last whale chase

Fred Poihipi is one of the few living Māori who can say he was once a whaler.

The 80-year-old Te Whānau a Apanui kaumātua lives at Maraenui Pa, a bay near Te Kaha in the Eastern Bay of Plenty. The New Zealand Herald's Yvonne Tahana interviwed him about his experiences, and the importance of respecting kaimoana resources.

Fred Poihipi was 9 years old when his tribe decided in 1939 the hunting of right and sperm whales should stop. Mr Poihipi was a passenger on the last hunting expedition.

It was a simple but physically exhausting process, he remembers. Lookouts on the hills signalled to oarsmen that whales were in sight. Sitting eight on each side of the vessel, they rowed out to within striking distance of the massive animal.

Oars came in and a harpoon connected to ropes had to hit its target. A successful hit sent ropes went running immediately. A call was made to "clamp" the rope and then the boats were off, Mr Poihipi said.

"It was freaky, you watch the ropes shoot out and it was like they were on fire. You were moving so fast."

Eventually the whale would wallow and be hauled in. The boat would come alongside and the harpooner would finish the kill. His hapū used a punerangi, an instrument shaped like a sharpened, flattened spoon, to despatch the whale. 

Whale meat was eaten fresh or could be dried - a delicacy he hasn't had since the last "chase".

Kaimoana

Today, when the sea is flat, Mr Poihipi won't be at home, he'll be out fishing.

He said his life had been defined by the sea, and that was why foreshore and seabed law mattered to him. Living off the sea means keeping to a strict code of seasonal targeting of species. It's a customary system under which only the fattest moki, kahawai, tarakihi and snapper are taken in turn, depending on the time of the year.

Wasting fish isn't tolerated and mussel beds are looked after by manually removing starfish which are suffocating the shellfish. Rāhui - bans on taking fish - are set and enforced by locals.

At Maraenui, Te Whānau a Hikarukutai hapū members follow the Ringatū faith, which bars fishing on Saturdays or the 12th of each month.

It's a way of doing things which has sustained Mr Poihipi's hapū...

Source

> VISIT the New Zealand Herald, to read this article in full. Written by Yvonne Tahana photo by Alan Gibson.