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National

Bay of Plenty iwi signs up to aquaculture development deal with marine research experts

Five national research institutes have committed to working with iwi in the Bay of Plenty, to build the aquaculture industry in the rohe.

The memorandum of understanding was signed on Friday between Ngā Iwi i Te Rohe o Te Waiariki and Plant & Food Research, the Cawthron Institute, the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) and the universities of Otago and Waikato.

“These five institutions have up to five thousand scientists within their orbit and therefore as Māori, we have access to all of that technical knowledge,” Bay of Plenty iwi aquaculture project leader Chris Karamea says.

The purpose of the deal is to develop a large-scale $20 million multi-year funding agreement with the government, to explore potential marine science and technology business opportunities.

Karamea says this is a huge milestone for iwi in the rohe.

“It creates scale for us as iwi, thereby enabling us to really change the way that the science institutes engage with us as Māori.”