Māori are increasingly taking on environmental management roles (often on a voluntary basis) that juggle the responsibilities of both traditional networks and government regulations. The focus of this scoping project was to identify the barriers, obstacles and potential solutions to conducting research in the area of local customary fisheries from a flax roots level, that is the application and management of Mataitai and Taiapure by communities and marae.

The researchers used kaupapa Māori methodology and  conducted semi-structured interviews, which were followed by transcription and thematic analysis to interpret and analyse the data.

Their goal was to provide kaitiaki, Māori researchers and Māori communities with resources to build greater resilience into their communities.