In 2000, the small town of Nelson on the South Island of Aotearoa (New Zealand) hosted a meeting of the World Council of Whalers. The decision of the local Ngāi Tahu leaders to host the meeting was opposed by many, as the national government of Aotearoa has positioned itself as an anti-whaling nation and a supporter of strict marine protection measures, both domestically and abroad (Epstein, 2008:236–241). At the time, the iwi’s decision was seen as contradictory to the official stance of the government and the minister for conservation Sandra Lee, herself a member of Ngāi Tahu, criticised the locals leaders decision to lend credibility to the whaling industry and questioned who funded the meeting. On the other hand, a commissioner from the government-established Treaty of Waitangi Fisheries Commission, offered his support to the iwi, marking that “indigenous communities have been hit hard by international whaling policies” (IPS, 2000).

Furthermore, the former chairman of Ngāi Tahu and a keynote speaker at the meeting Sir Tipene O’Regan criticised environmentalists and the government for patronising the Māori and drew attention to the detrimental impacts of international conservation policies on the traditional Māori craft and trade of whale bone carving. In this paper, I piece together the story of the 2000 meeting by the paper trail left behind. By analysing the records of the meeting, I examine what kind of considerations materialise when the value of solidarity and self-determination is juxtaposed with domestic pressures and questions about what is sacred. This paper ties the events of the meeting together with the larger discussions of global indigenous solidarity, traditional knowledge systems management and multispecies kinship.