Eel symposium goes swimmingly at AUT
A recent two-day gathering of eel (tuna) enthusiasts at AUT attracted dozens of local and international experts to discuss ways to help this important, but threatened, species.
Organised by AUT senior lecturer Dr Amandine Sabadel, and funded by the Royal Society and Te Whare Tūroa AUT Regenerative Environments Research Network, the symposium focused on conservation efforts to protect tuna.
Dr Sabadel says: “Our tuna (eels) are in trouble. Their populations are declining, and with them, the health and mauri of our rivers. This is not just an ecological issue, it is cultural, environmental, and central to who we are in Aotearoa.”
She says one of the main problems here is that New Zealand has a lot of hydro dams which stops the eels' migration in and out. As they head upriver towards the ocean to spawn, about 99.9% get chopped up by the turbines.
The symposium heard from researchers from Aotearoa, the Pacific and Europe, iwi and hapū, community groups and councils - a powerful convergence of voices committed to the protection and restoration of our tuna.
“The message was clear: the momentum is here, and it must continue. Tuna need to remain at the centre of our conversations about freshwater, culture, and biodiversity. Several concrete actions were initiated during the hui, strengthening this collective movement, including working together to publish the outcomes of the hui as a peer-reviewed publication, ensuring the collective knowledge shared is documented and accessible, creation of a working group to provide key information to relevant authorities, and increasing awareness about the state of our tuna,” says Dr Sabadel.