Rāhui as living Indigenous marine governance

In Aotearoa, rāhui are often described as temporary closures within fisheries management; however, such characterisations are reductive of their role as living Indigenous marine governance systems grounded in Māori worldviews. This narrative literature review examines rāhui in Aotearoa as a dynamic, relational, and adaptive form of Indigenous marine governance, rather than as a customary practice anchored in the past or interpreted through state-centric norms. By situating rāhui alongside other Indigenous marine governance systems in the Asia- Pacific, the review illustrates that these practices share a regional challenge: the risk that customary practices lose their cultural depth and original meaning when their names are used to describe state-controlled fishing rules. The review examines how customary marine governance is expressed through state-defined legal mechanisms in Aotearoa, particularly temporary closures under Sections 186 A and 186B of the Fisheries Act 1996. It argues that the government’s use of the word rāhui for these rules confuses distinct systems and masks the fundamental difference between community-led stewardship and Crown regulatory power. The review analyses rāhui through four recurring themes: relational authority, holistic governance, adaptation within plural systems, and decolonial resurgence, demonstrating how they continue to function as contemporary, evolving systems of Indigenous authority and care. It highlights that rāhui are anchored in a relational worldview in which authority is an inherent intergenerational responsibility to protect the mauri (life force) of the environment, and that they operate effectively even in the absence of formal state recognition. Ultimately, this review calls for a shift from tokenistic recognition toward a future that centres Indigenous authority as a living and future-oriented system, posing a deeper question for marine policy: what could governance look like if Indigenous authority and relational worldviews were centred rather than constrained?