Marine ecologist professor Kura Paul-Burke (Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Whakahemo, Ngāti Mākino, Ngāti Pūkeko, Irish) has made her career combining mātauranga Māori and marine science knowledge systems to restore marine taonga species. In September 2025, Paul-Burke received both the the Tangata Kaitiaki Award and the Seafood New Zealand-sponsored Supreme Sustainability and Innovation Award. She sat down with Seafood to discuss her research and the power of community-led science.
Tell me more about the current projects you are working on.
I am so lucky to be working on projects all over the country! One project is called Te Wahapū o Waihī where we converted a 30-hectare dairy farm into wetland and saltmarsh. We have planted 160,000 native plants, fenced 16 kilometres of waterways, conducted blue carbon trials and assisted 30-plus local farmers with funding to establish environmental plans. But, the real force of that project was to protect and care for Waihī Estuary. It's a partnership with five iwi, Regional Council and the Ministry for the Environment. We aimto put a kōrowai, or a cloak of multiple wetlands around our estuary to help filter out pollution and sedimentation coming from the land. We have a whakatukī (proverb) that guides the project that says; He oranga te wahapū, he oranga te iwi - if the estuary is healthy, the people are healthy.
Another project is called Pou Rāhui in Tikapa Moana / Te Moananui-a-Toi (Hauraki Gulf). The five iwi on the project have rāhui in place or temporary closures preventing all humans from harvesting shellfish at designated places. The intergenerational project is inspiring. We have trained taiohi (youth from the five iwi) to become qualified free divers and to do mātauranga Māori-led surveys alongside marine science, with us in the ocean. The surveys identified the pāua population in an abysmal state of collapse. We had to do something to help the pāua and our moana. So, in 2025 after a lot of effort, we reseeded 80,000 baby pāua back into the ocean and our taiohi were working right alongside us in the water. We also removed 5,000 kina as they were dominating pāua habitat. Working with iwi, we will keep going back to care for the pāua.
Then there is the kuku or green-lipped mussel project in Ōhiwa harbour. Working with kaumātua (elders) we implemented traditional knowledge and resources to help restore the mussel population from 80,000 in 2019to 45 million in 2024. We created biodegradable spat lines made out of dead tī kouka (cabbage tree) leaves to help grow baby mussels and at the same time reduce plastic pollution in our moana and kaimoana. This project is close to my heart. The restored mussel bed is the one my daddy used to take us to collect kuku when I was a child. My daddy and our Ngāti Awa tōhunga were a part of the project from the beginning. It is bittersweet that they didn't get to see how important a role their mātauranga or knowledge played in the success of this work. I think they would be very proud to see our harbour cleaner and the traditional mussel bed thriving again.
What's the benefit of incorporating a mātauranga Māori approach to marine science?
Both approaches have much in common. They both aim to better understand the world in which we live. Both perspectives are well established and include teaching and learning techniques. They are systematic and seek to solve and explain phenomena. Both approaches highlight different ways to arrive at legitimate knowledge. Mātauranga Māori stands on its own merit as a body of knowledge as does mainstream science.
What is important is recognising our ocean is declining, at an unprecedented rate. The best thing we can do is to incorporate as many tools and innovative approaches to help us help our ocean. Or there will be nothing left for anyone. Combining mātauranga Māori with marine science has generated some outstanding tangible results. It is better when we combine our knowledge pools and work together.
Random question, but, what is science to you?
I think pūtaiao or science is fun, it's all about problem solving. It obviously has complexity, but so does learning another language. Pretty much everything we do in life can be complex, or we can strip it back and translate the complexity into accessible, logical and achievable actions. I love the pragmatic nature of working in the moana. Trying to figure out traditional solutions for contemporary environmental problems. If we look back to the learning and teaching of our ancestors we can sometimes help to find real-world answers.
What was your reaction to receiving both the Tangata Kaitiaki Award and the Supreme Sustainability and Innovation Award last year?
I was so surprised - I didn't even know that there was a supreme award. Seriously, when they were leading up to the announcement of the winner, I was sitting with a person from MPI debating the desserts, and I was very committed to that conversation. Halfway through that debate, I stopped and said, "Wait, is that me they are talking about?" I almost cried walking up to the stage because everyone stood up and was clapping and cheering. It was quite overwhelming. There were so many amazing people doing great things in the room and it was a real honour. It was a humbling experience.
What would it mean to see more mātauranga Māori incorporated into government projects?
There is a lack of skilled and experienced practitioners (Māori and non-Māori) able to work across disciplinary areas of mātauranga Māori, marine science, ecological restoration and knowledge communication transfer, which is a significant challenge for our country. Currently, not one government department employs a Māori marine scientist. If you look across the ministries, departments and funding agencies there are no Māori marine scientists, which means there are no Māori scientists in senior managerial positions participating in marine science policy and decision-making conversations. This outdated approach then translates through to most universities. We are educating the next generation of marine scientists and policy managers with only one way to view and work with the ocean. To date, that approach has not retained the health of our ocean nor has it accessed the depth of indigenous innovation still waiting to be realised. Removing those old-world systems thinking and barriers, to create meaningful space for mātauranga Māori, doubles our chances of leading the world on cutting-edge, fisheries practice. We have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Where do you see the commercial industry fitting in?
All sectors (commercial, customary, recreational) extract from the ocean. Those same sectors also want a thriving ocean with plentiful fisheries. I am very interested in looking at ways we can assist each other across the sectors to better care for our moana. I would love to do more within industry around collaboration for blue economy and restoration. The potential is immense.
