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Story: Seafood

Crayfishing

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Crayfishing

These Māori fishermen at Waipiro Bay on the East Coast are rowing out to set their crayfish pot. Traditionally, pots were fashioned from supplejack vines and flax twine into a beehive shape. Baited pots were placed into submerged rocky reefs and retrieved after a couple of hours, usually with a crayfish inside.

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Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: 1/1-002601;G

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.

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How to cite this page

Maggy Wassilieff, Seafood – Early Māori and settler diets, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/5094/crayfishing (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Maggy Wassilieff, published 2 March 2009.