This past June brought visitors to Alaska to learn about the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Raewyn Bennett and Elaine Tapsell, elders of the indigenous Maori people of New Zealand, came to look for information and best practices or guidance that might be useful to them in the aftermath of their own oil spill off the coast of New Zealand in 2011.
The cargo tanker Rena ran aground on the Astrolabe Reef in October 2011, releasing over 350 tonnes (approximately 110,000 gallons) of fuel oil and shipping containers into New Zealand’s Bay of Plenty. The Astrolabe Reef, known to the Maori as “Otaiti,” is considered sacred by the Maori, and they are concerned about a potential plan to leave the submerged portion of the wreckage on the reef.