The Eels of Lake Wairarapa

Te Ao Hou, June 1965, Page 36

The Eels of Lake Wairarapa by T. V. Saunders The writer describes the method of eel-trapping that he knew in his youth. With a modified technique, eel-trapping is still carried out at Okorewa, though recent dredging may make it impossible in the future. I have been asked on several occasions to write an article on the tuna (eel) trapping at Okorewa. Until now I have refrained from doing so, but since I have set myself the task of recording the history of the southern Wairarapa, I feel that such a record would be incomplete without a description of this wonderful tuna migration which takes place every year at Okorewa. This locality, where the Ruamahanga River empties itself into Palliser Bay, is better known to the Pakeha as Lake Ferry. This article is mainly intended for our younger Maori generation, many of whom I am sorry to say are not conversant with the remarkable habits of these palatable fish. According to tradition, the explorer Kupe came to the Palliser Bay area in the year 925 A.D. and lived there with his followers for close on two decades. This suggests that the tuna migration of Wairarapa Moana may have occurred even as early as this. History relates that it was known to the Rangitane tribe, which came here in the great migration of 1350 A.D. and which settled in the Palliser Bay area some years later. Ngati Kahungunu, who were next inhabitants of the district and are still in occupation of their kingdom, have always known of it. One of the first Pakehas to see the eels of Wairarapa Moana must have been the Rev. William Colenso, the missionary-botanist explorer. He mentions a visit in 1845 to Okorewa, a fishing village at the mouth of Lake Onoke (this is another name given to the area at the mouth of the Ruamahanga River).