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Kōrero: Te hopu tuna – eeling

Tuna ki Wairewa

Audio file

He ika raparapa ki Wairewa (Lake Forsyth). He wāhi nui ki ngā iwi o Te Wai Pounamu a Wairewa mō te mahi tuna. Ka mau ngā tuna mā ngā hīnaki, mā te tautau noke waiū rānei. Whakarongo ki a Tiki Ellison o Ngāi Tahu e kōrero ana mō te mahi tuna.

Tuhinga

You got to gather them then. And we hang them out and use the method of fresh water to take the para off it, you know, take the para, fresh water and salt, plenty of salt.

Interviewer: Para is the slime?

Para is the slime, yes.

Get rid of all as much as you can. Hang them out to dry, put a cover over the top and keep the sun off it because the sun can spoil it, let them hang. And soon as they finished, firm enough, there's a big mass people doing the pāwhara, you know, the pāwhara or opening up the bones and taking it out. I can do that quite easy.

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

Alexander Turnbull Library, Tourist and Publicity Department Collection

Reference: 1/2-040042; F

by K. V. Bigwood

Sound file from Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision. Reference: 45419. Any unauthorised re-use of this audio is a breach of copyright.

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

Ngā whakaahua me ngā rauemi katoa o tēnei kōrero

Me pēnei te tohu i te whārang

Basil Keane, Te hopu tuna – eeling – Bobbing, feeling and striking, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/mi/speech/13984/tuna-ki-wairewa (accessed 4 June 2026).

He kōrero nā Basil Keane, i tāngia i te 2 March 2009.