"Whaia te kauika a Tangaroa, Ma kona e ora nga uri Whakatipu"
The period of the Maori fisheries settlement (2006-2012) did by and large put pressure on Iwi to manage and protect their commercial fisheries assets as reflected in our vision statement at that time:
Me tieki i te moana me ona rawa, ka taea te whakahiato nga kai moana tokomaha rawa atu ma Ngati Porou me ona hapu mo ake tonu atu
To manage, protect and enhance Ngati Porou’s seafood resources and environment in a profitable and sustainable manner for the future.
Whilst retaining the importance of Stewardship and Kaitiakitanga, as a strategic shift in our business we wanted our vision to reflect our desire to grow and innovate to ultimately enhance the lives of our people, our place, and our products.
After discussions with our Iwi Chairman Apirana Mahuika weeks before his passing he pulled an expression from the Ngati Porou patere Tuteremoana.
This expression embodies our current strategic direction.
Whaia te kauika a Tangaroa,
Ma kona e ora nga uri Whakatipu
From the bounty of Tangaroa,
We will sustain our future generations
With this vision the Ngati Porou Seafoods Group moves into an exciting future.
“We are not individuals, we work together collectively in everything that we do. Whanau and whanaungatanga, our relationships to one another is actually the driving force that has allowed us to survive for many years and that will be our survival point going into the future . . . . we are a people of Mana, we will grow, we have the people aptly qualified to grow our Ngati Porou economy”.
Dr Apirana Mahuika.
“The call is now on the younger generation of the tribe, for whom our fathers and forefathers treasured hopes and dreamed dreams in their time, when the tribal resources were slender and not so well organised as they are now. To them we owe the whole of our education; they fought blindly to retain the lands we live on; they bridged the gap between the old and the communal system and the co-operative efforts today . . . . It is our turn to carry on the responsibilities in our time and in accordance with our greater resources and higher standard”
Ta Apirana Ngata 1928