Paua - In Contemporary Use

Paua

A shiny rainbow of blues, green and mauves

Captured in a Neck Piece

Cathedral Square Market
October 2010. Ajr

For Sale

Roadside Stall

Paua Shells For Sale

Otago Peninsula, Dunedin

May 2010. Ajr

Paua - Favourite Kaimoana

Paua is the Maori name given to three species of large edible sea snails belonging to the Haliotidae family - known as abalone in the Northern Hemisphere. In New Zealand, the best known of the paua species is Haliotis iris and while it has a beautiful irridescent blue-green shell, in my opinion, the slimy, black 'animal' within would have to be one of the least appetising-looking potential meals I've ever come across.

But looks can be deceiving. Given a thorough bashing to tenderise the flesh and then sliced thinly and barbecued, paua flesh is indeed a delicacy. To Maori, they are a taonga (treasure) and they are sought after both as a food and for their colourful shells, which are often incorporated into carvings (usually to represent eyes) and jewellery. Another favourite way to eat paua is to mince them and make them into fritters. These juicy specimens were caught at Kaikoura and were served at the final meal of the waka wananga I attended recently at Kaikoura's Takahanga Marae.

Market Enterprise

Kete For Sale

Decorated with Paua Shells

Riccarton Rotary Market
Christchurch

September 2009 Ajr

Paua - The Treasure

Kaka Point, South Otago. Jan 2009. Ajr

Meet Haliotis iris, the Blackfoot paua (abalone). I saw this great little mailbox when I travelled south of Dunedin to write about the new Puna Wai Toriki mataitai (customary fisheries legislation) at Kaka Point recently. It’s a magnificent coastline – unspoiled and rugged – and paua are one of the main kaimoana (seafood) harvested in the area. A mataitai of course, restricts commercial harvest of any designated species (for Maori and Pakeha alike) to help create a sustainable resource; and as there has long been ‘over-fishing’ and an extensive global black market in the collection and export of abalone meat (with illegal paua poaching just as rife in New Zealand), it is hoped the new legislation will help return the dwindling paua resource in the area to former healthy levels. But that’s another whole complex subject……which you can read about in the four-part series on Mataitai legislation in Ngai Tahu’s TE KARAKA magazine…… for now let’s focus on the paua itself – a taonga (treasure) to Maori for both its value as food and as a source of shell for both traditional and contemporary arts and crafts.

Arts Centre Market, Christchurch 2007. Ajr

In its raw state fresh from the sea, the paua shell is ‘nothing to write home about.’ It’s usually a dull, crusty grey and it’s not until it has been cleaned and polished that its iridescent beauty comes to light. Both inside and out, the paua shell presents a swirling kaleidoscope of blue, green, pink, black and purple. Paua shell was – and still is – frequently used to form the eyes in Maori carvings and to decorate kete. It is now synonymous with the New Zealand tourism industry – you see paua in some form in almost every souvenir shop in the country; and it has a recognised place as a valid material in contemporary Maori and Pakeha jewellery and sculpture.