With each stroke he re-enacts the practised movement of his tūpuna, in similar craft but in a very different marine environment—the water beneath him harbours a fraction of the life it once did.

Has the mauri of this place been enhanced, or depleted? Can we have our 21-century city, and restore our environment too? Māori principles of kaitiakitanga may offer a new way to understand complex systems such as the gulf and our relationship with them.