Women on a mission WE'RE CATCHING OUR OWN KAI!

Meet the new wave of Kiwi hunters and gatherers feeding their whānau

- Kasia De Vydt-Jillings

When Karis Vesey ran the first Kaimoana Queens workshop in 2022 for a group of 16 women, teaching them to fish, gather and dive for their own seafood, most participants were her friends or family.

Since then, it’s taken off faster than she ever imagined, with 74 women at the last event in the Hokianga and tickets selling out in just nine minutes.

It’s proved so popular, wāhine all around New Zealand are asking for workshops in their region, and people living in Australia are planning to fly over to attend.

“At the first wānanga [workshop], it was the first-ever time diving for most and I remember saying before we went in, ‘Don’t scream because I’ll think there’s a shark,’” recalls Karis. “Next thing, I heard all this yelling and someone had just grabbed their fi rst kina and was absolutely ecstatic.

“These women have eaten kaimoana [seafood] their whole lives, but never been the ones to gather it because it was always their brothers, dads and husbands’ job. It was amazing to see how powerful they felt knowing they can feed their tamariki [children] and hapū [tribe] with their own hands.”

The inaugural group of women were so moved by the experience, most of them are now part of the 23-strong team of volunteers facilitating the Kaimoana Queens online group and face-to-face gatherings.