Confiscated tabua to be repatriated

FIJI – New Zealand’s Department of Conservation will repatriate to Fiji more than 100 cultural items from the country which have been seized over the past 15 years.

The items, all tabua – the polished tooth of a sperm whale – are highly regarded cultural gifts in Fiji, often passed down through generations.

But laws preventing the trade in endangered species mean that more than 100 tabua have been seized at New Zealand’s border in recent times.

DOC’s National Compliance Manager, Darryl Lew, said more than 90 per cent of endangered specimens forfeited to the crown at the border are destroyed, but not the tabua collection.

“I’m very pleased to say we have an agreement between both management authorities of Fiji and New Zealand an we’re going to be repatriating the Tabua later this year.

“The Department of Conservation would like to hope that it’s some reasonable formal event and a cultural exchange to hand over the tabua.”

A Fijian woman has warned others to be more aware of the export permits needed to bring cultural items from the Pacific into New Zealand.

Dali Jobson was forced to surrender a family heirloom tabua to the Crown after she declared it at Auckland Airport last month.

It was formerly gifted to her daughter, nine-year-old Leilani, by the family’s village in an elaborate cultural ceremony at her Fijian grandparents’ home.

On the family’s return to Auckland it was confiscated under New Zealand’s Trade in Endangered Species Act.

“We’re just quite devastated to be honest. To be given a very special gift shows my daughter she has a place in our family and that’s her roots and her culture and just to have it taken away and I don’t know what’s happening to it, it’s very precious.

“I was not aware of the permit process. I found it quite surprising and quite annoyed, or frustrated really, that there wasn’t any prior notice, fore-warnings or signs or posters at the Fiji airport.

“I’d read through the declaration paper which you’re given on the plane about declaring what you’re bringing in. I did notice that there was, you know, bones, and so I had declared it and I didn’t think there would be a problem bringing it in.”

- RNZI/PNC