Indigenous ocean leaders to gather at Waitangi to protect the Pacific's Peaceful Sea

Indigenous leaders from across the Pacific and around the world will come together at Waitangi next month for a major gathering focused on the future of the ocean.

Taiātea: Gathering of the Oceans - Voices, Views and Leadership Symposium - will bring more than 20 Indigenous leaders, marine scientists, and researchers to Aotearoa New Zealand for a 10-day wānanga centred on the protection and restoration of the Pacific Ocean, known to many Indigenous people as a living ancestor.

Participants will travel across Te Ika a Māui, the North Island, sharing Indigenous knowledge on marine protection, ocean resilience and climate change.

Leaders are coming from Canada, Australia, Hawai‘i, Niue, Rapa Nui, and the Cook Islands, alongside Māori hosts.

The public heart of the gathering will take place on 4 February at Te Tiriti o Waitangi Marae, also known as Te Tii Marae, during the annual Waitangi celebrations in Paihia.

The forum is open to the public and will focus on Indigenous leadership and responsibility for the Pacific Ocean, which is also called the Peaceful Sea, derived from its original Spanish name, Mar Pacífico, given by explorer Ferdinand Magellan in 1520.

More than 20 Indigenous leaders, researchers and marine experts from Te Moana Nui a Kiwa, including Hawai‘i, Rapa Nui, Niue and the Cook Islands, will take part in the Taiātea wānanga. Photo/tearawhanuiresearch.com

Other historical or regional names include the South Sea (Mar del Sur), Moananuiākea (Hawaiian), or Te Moana Nui a Kiwa (Māori).

Ngāti Kawa Taituha (Ngāpuhi), chair of Te Tiriti o Waitangi Marae, says the ocean is a taonga that must be cared for, just like the marae itself.

“We are looking forward to again welcoming our manuhiri from the Pacific and the motu, as the Taiātea Forum shares and discusses the practice of Tino Rangatiratanga and Mana Motuhake,” Taituha says in a statement.

A Taiātea rangatahi gathering in 2022. Photo/tearawhanuiresearch.com

The symposium was last held in 2019.

Sheridan Waitai (Ngāti Kuri, Te Rarawa, Tainui), a Taiātea leader, says the return of the gathering is about strengthening relationships between Indigenous communities who share responsibility for the ocean.

“We are connected through our shared kaitiakitanga of taonga and our ecosystem," her statement reads.

"As kaitiaki of the moana, it is important we come together to discuss what others have achieved with similar constraints, learn about what is working, what isn't, and move forward together with purpose."

After the Waitangi forum, participants will visit haukāinga in the Tūwharetoa and Whanganui regions.

Taiātea leader Sheridan Watai. Photo/tearawhanuiresearch.com

The visits will allow leaders to exchange knowledge, learn from local case studies, and discuss practical approaches to protecting marine environments.

Lisa Te Heuheu (Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Maniapoto), Taiātea's lead researcher, says the wānanga builds on long-standing conversations about protecting Indigenous knowledge and taonga.

“The knowledge held by our haukāinga is at the heart of this kaupapa. These exchanges create space for people to share their lived experiences, learn from one another and strengthen our relationships to the ocean,” Te Heuheu says in a statement.

Organisers are encouraging marae, hapū and iwi, as well as non-government organisations, government agencies, and environmental and marine researchers, to attend the public forum at the Waitangi Forum tent.

Taiātea lead researcher Lisa Te Heuheu. Photo/tearawhanuiresearch.com

“As with every year at Waitangi, this is an open forum. Everyone is welcome," Waitai says. "This is about growing the collective to gain momentum in the protection of our moana and in that way our knowledge exchange is inclusive.”

Taiātea is an Indigenous-led symposium grounded in the understanding that the ocean is a living ancestor.

The 2026 event will be the third gathering of the kaupapa, bringing Indigenous voices together to shape the future of ocean care across Te Moana Nui a Kiwa (Pacific Ocean).