A Tauranga-based marine scientist has been awarded a prestigious Marsden research grant from the Royal Society of New Zealand.

Dr Phil Ross, from the University of Waikato’s Coastal Marine Field Station, received a Marsden Fast-Start grant worth $300,000 over three years to examine the influence of early Maori on the distribution of toheroa.



Dr Phil Ross, marine ecologist at the University of Waikato’s Coastal Marine Field Station in Tauranga. Photo: Supplied.

As part of the research, Phil will combine archaeology and population genetics with Matauranga Maori (Maori knowledge) to gain a better understanding of early human influences on the distribution of toheroa and the extent to which early Māori manipulated their marine environment.

“Knowledge of the effects of early human society on marine ecosystems is limited, as is our understanding of the consequences of early human practices on present day ecosystems,” says Phil.

“Early Maori were prolific users of aquatic resources and were also adept at food cultivation and translocation. After settling New Zealand, Maori domesticated and translocated numerous endemic species.”

Preliminary research suggests that the present day distribution of toheroa may result from early Maori fisheries practices, he says.

“After conducting a population genetic analysis of toheroa in order to map the dispersal of their larvae on ocean currents, initial data suggests that the toheroa of southern New Zealand may be historically derived from northern populations.

“This led to the line of enquiry that toheroa were transplanted to locations outside their natural distribution, possibly prior to European settlement.”

Paphies ventricosa, or toheroa – which means ‘long tongue’ in Maori – is a shellfish endemic to New Zealand and of significant cultural importance to Maori.

A close relation of the tuatua and the pipi, the toheroa was once an abundant shellfish in Northland, Kapiti-Horowhenua and Southland.

“It will be the first study in New Zealand to look at what is effectively aquaculture by indigenous people shortly after the first colonisation of a land mass.”

A number of relevant Maori groups in toheroa regions will be participating in the study.

Phil is a marine ecologist working at the University of Waikato’s Coastal Marine Field Station in Tauranga.

For the last few years his research has looked at the ecological effects of the Rena grounding on Astrolabe Reef.

Overall, four University of Waikato research projects were awarded Marsden funding, totalling more than $1.3million over three years.