Fish from the Ōtata midden: change and continuity in pre-European Māori fisheries

Matthew Campbell^1*Richard Walter²Armagan Sabetian³Louise Furey⁴Emma Ash⁴Andrew McAlister¹Jingjing Zhang⁵Caitlin Haylock¹

• ¹The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
• ²University of Otago, Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand
• ³Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
• ⁴Auckland Museum, Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
• ⁵The New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research Ltd, Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

The stratified midden on Ōtata Island, in New Zealand's Hauraki Gulf, dates from the 14th century CE, soon after the East Polynesian settlement of New Zealand, to the 18th century, just prior to the arrival of Europeans. Analysis of the fishbone assemblages shows that the main targeted species throughout the sequence was snapper (Chrysophrys auratus), accounting for between 50 and 88% of each assemblage. Cranial bones of snapper significantly outnumbered vertebrae, demonstrating that snapper bodies were being preserved for off-site consumption. This pattern is not apparent for other fish species. An early focus on individual fish capture, with benthic or reef species more common than in later assemblages, was superseded by an emphasis on pelagic schooling species, indicating increased use of netting both in response to demographic pressures and as netting technology developed. Snapper size reconstructions for Occupation 3 were significantly skewed towards smaller fish as the environment recovered from the eruption of the nearby Rangitoto volcano and deposition of tephra on the seabed. Otolith trace element analysis showed that juvenile snapper behaviours remained consistent throughout the sequence, but that there were subtle environmental changes. These are attributed to anthropogenic terrestrial changes, but otherwise there were no measurable anthropogenic changes to marine ecosystems.