Te Aomihia

Policy Analyst at Te Ohu Kaimoana Hailing from Aotearoa New Zealand, Te Aomihia Walker (from the Indigenous Māori tribe of Ngāti Porou) has a deep passion for the ocean and her Māori heritage and culture. Through her work and studies, she seeks to support the aspirations of whānau (family), hapū (sub-tribes) and iwi (tribes) to achieve their collective vision of political, social, cultural, environmental and economic self-determination. Currently, Te Aomihia works as a Policy Analyst at Te Ohu Kaimoana, the Māori Fisheries Trust established in 2004 to protect and advance the interests of Māori in the marine environment. In this role, she brings together the knowledge of government, kaitiaki—Māori environmental guardians who hold indigenous knowledge—and fishing industry representatives to provide policy and fisheries management advice to iwi and the wider Māori community. Te Aomihia holds a degree in marine biology and statistics, as well as a diploma in Te Pinakitanga o te Reo Kairangi—Māori language and protocols. She is the first fellow of the Sue Taei Ocean Fellowship for Indigenous Women of the Pacific, supporting her to complete the UNESCO GRO-Fisheries Training Programme in Iceland between September 2021 and March 2022. She is currently in her second year of the Fellowship, where she is conducting a project alongside her sub-tribe on the East Coast of the North Island of Aotearoa. This project aims to develop a research plan to understand the contemporary issues affecting her people’s customary coastal marine area and better enable them to carry out their kaitiakitanga (environmental guardianship) responsibilities.