Taura kūtai deployment
May 1, 2026
On 1 May 2026, following our collective effort to weave harakeke taura kūtai (mussel rope), we placed the taura in mussel farms to test their ability to recruit kūtai spat and ultimately be used in mussel reef restoration.
In the early hours of the morning, after a karakia by Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki kaumatua Laurie Beamish, we boarded the Gulf Trader with the team from James Marine and set off for the first mussel farm. We were even lucky enough to be guided out of Waipapa Bay by a pod of Aihe (Common Dolphins)!
After arriving at our first site, the backbones of the mussel farm were lifted out of the water and we prepared the taura for deployment. Each taura was marked using natural wool at approximately 50cm intervals, with pre-deployment photos taken and thickness measured as a baseline for future monitoring and assessment. Stone bags were then tied to the end of each taura, to keep the taura vertical in the water column, before they were finally attached to the farm backbone using muka ties.
Muka is a fibre that is extracted from harakeke by scraping away the outer leaves (traditionally with a kūtai shell) and then rolling and soaking the remaining fibre to soften the threads for weaving. When the threads are braided together, they form an incredibly strong and natural rope.
The strength of the muka ties is also a part of this trial, with two, four, and six-ply muka ties being used to attach taura to the backbone to test how thick the muka needs to be to attach the taura, especially as kūtai start to recruit, settle, and grow, making the taura heavier as time passes. To ensure the taura aren’t lost if the muka does break, commercial ties were also used to secure the taura to the backbone, but with additional slack to ensure that they only hold the weight of the taura if the muka breaks.
With the taura deployed in pairs, we repeated the process at a second mussel farm. Each deployment also had a commercial spat rope attached to the backbone at the same time, for use as a control against which we could compare the taura.
Over the coming weeks and months, we’ll be back on the water checking on how the taura are doing: their durability in different currents and environmental circumstances, any significant changes thickness or length, which kind of muka tie works best to keep the taura connected to the farm backbone, and of course, how many spat have settled on each taura.
Now that the trial taura are in the water, we’re also exploring other factors that will enhance this trial, in particular the seasonal variability in spatfall and whether past data can inform the optimum times for deployment.
Ngā mihi nui to the team at James Marine – Peter, Luke, Pania and their crew – for supporting this kaupapa, to Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki kaumātua Laurie and Fabian for their guidance, and Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki kairaranga Tessa for her expert knowledge that helped get us to this stage.
