From village to screen: Telling the story of marine conservation in Tonga
A team of Indigenous filmmakers is co-creating documentaries about community-managed marine areas with villages in the Vava’u group of islands in Tonga.
The series, Community-Led Marine Futures, will highlight local efforts to manage marine protected areas, respond to declining fisheries, and strengthen resource security for future generations.
Associate Professor Teena Brown Pulu is leading the AUT documentary team, which has been awarded a research grant from Coastal People: Southern Skies (CPSS) hosted by Otago University.
The project will form the visual artefact of Nikolase Meredith’s PHD, being undertaken in Te Ara Poutama, AUT's faculty of Māori and Indigenous development.
The series is filmed in the Tongan language and centred on tauhi vā mo e moana, the Tongan collective responsibility of nurturing relationships with the ocean.
It explores how the communities of Tefisi, Makave, Utulei, and Utungake protect their ancestral seascapes to enhancetheir spiritual, social, and economic wellbeing.
The project is co-designed with the communities themselves, which ensures they guide how their relationships with land and sea are portrayed, while also building practical skills in documenting ecosystem restoration work.
Each village is contributing its storyline, grounded in customary knowledge, everyday practice, and intergenerational teaching.
Community members reflect on the impact of climate change, pollution, and reef loss, and explain how no-take zones and customary fishing rules are reshaping village life by revitalising customary ways of knowing and relating to the environment for fishers, gleaners, and households.
Community-Led Marine Futures aims to amplify community-led marine stewardship, support the transmission of Indigenous knowledge, and transform the long-term wellbeing of Vava’u through ocean-focused digital storytelling and transgenerational cooperation.
It is expected that Community-Led Marine Futures will be released in 2028.
The academics have published the journal article The sea has (no) borders: ocean zoning in coastal Tonga with behind-the-scenes reflections on creating short documentaries with and for the coastal villages of Tefisi and Makave in the Vava’u Islands of northern Tonga.
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