December 03, 2021
Traditional skills used to save Rotorua lake
The Rotorua Lakes Trust has drawn on traditional weaving skills to try to encourage the return of native species to the lakes.
It is putting harakeke mats known as uwhi in the waterways in an attempt to control invasive weed species.
Spokesperson Wiremu Anaru says hessian matting has been used in some of the South Island lakes, but local weavers thought the baskets uses to cook food in ngāwhā pools suggested the harakeke matting could also do the job.
“There’s 3 different types of weaving patterns that we are testing to see how they suppress aquatic weeds that have been a problem in Rotorua lakes.” he says.
Divers will monitor the mats to see how the material degrades and what effect it has on the environment.