Cook Islands Language Week 2022
Episode four of AUT’s 2022 Pacific Language Week Video series – AUT Focus on Sustainability – is now live.
The animated video draws attention to subsistence fishing in the Cook Islands, and the importance of understanding cultural practices and traditional knowledge when it comes to protecting our coastal marine resources.
Seventy percent of fisheries production from Pacific coastal areas is from subsistence fishing.
“Subsistence fishing helps feed our Pacific whānau and villages, and some fish is also sold so families can earn a living,” explains Antony Vavia, a marine biologist and AUT PhD candidate.
For his PhD, Antony is exploring how to ensure the long-term sustainability of coral reef fisheries in the Cook Islands by doing a case study on the island of Mitiaro, in the Cook Islands.
"We don’t manage the fishery by working with the resources — we manage the fishery by working with the people that influence the resources,” Vavia says.
To acknowledge Cook Islands Language Week being celebrated in Aotearoa from 31 July to 6 August, the video is narrated in Cook Islands Māori (with English subtitles).
View our Cook Islands Language Week video here:
Release dates
To watch each video in the 2022 AUT Pacific language video series as they are launched, follow the Pacific at AUT Facebook page or watch on YouTube. The AUT Pacific Language Weeks project is supported by the Centre for Pacific Languages.
Upcoming 2022 Pacific Language Week dates:
- Tonga Language Week: Sunday 4 September – Saturday 10 September 2022
- Tuvalu Language Week: Sunday 25 September – Saturday 1 October 2022
- Fijian Language Week: Sunday 2 October – Saturday 8 October 2022
- Niue Language Week: Sunday 16 October – Saturday 22 October 2022
- Tokelau Language Week: Sunday 23 October – Saturday 29 October 2022