Wild Hero 2022: Celebrating Brendan Flack and the EOTMC

In 2022, Wild Dunedin did something a little different. Rather than honouring a single individual, the Wild Hero Award celebrated a collective effort, acknowledging Brendan Flack and the East Otago Taiāpure Management Committee for their outstanding work protecting one of Otago's most precious coastal environments.

Established in 2001, the East Otago Taiāpure Management Committee is a community-led group responsible for co-managing a 40-square-kilometre stretch of coastline and estuary north of Dunedin. Bringing together customary, recreational and commercial fishing interests, the committee has become a national example of how communities can work together to protect marine ecosystems while ensuring sustainable access for future generations.

Operating under the Māori principle of kaitiakitanga, the committee combines mātauranga Māori with scientific research and local knowledge to care for the East Otago Taiāpure.

Over more than two decades, the committee has achieved remarkable results. Working alongside the Ministry for Primary Industries, it introduced important protections including closing the taiāpure to pāua fishing, banning set nets, and safeguarding seven species of coastal kelp that provide critical habitat for marine life.

The committee has also led hands-on restoration projects, including releasing more than 500,000 pāua back into local reefs and organising community planting and habitat restoration days. Partnerships with the University of Otago and River-Estuary Care: Waikouaiti-Karitane have supported cutting-edge monitoring of ocean health, climate change, ocean acidification and marine habitats.

Their success has been recognised through scientific research. Long-term monitoring has shown pāua populations inside the East Otago Taiāpure are healthier than those on nearby reefs outside the protected area, demonstrating the value of local stewardship and community-led management.

Brendan Flack has played a significant role in advancing this work through both research and practical conservation. His work has helped bridge science, local knowledge and Indigenous management, showing how collaborative approaches can restore not only marine ecosystems but also the cultural values connected to them.

The East Otago Taiāpure Management Committee continues to demonstrate that conservation works best when communities are empowered to care for the places they know and love. Their commitment to protecting biodiversity, restoring marine habitats and ensuring the sustainable future of local fisheries makes them truly deserving recipients of Wild Dunedin's 2022 Wild Hero Award.

Together, they remind us that sometimes the greatest conservation success comes not from one hero, but from a community working together.