A Rapanui elder from Easter Island is appealing to his Maori cousins to help save the supply of fish in the Pacific Ocean which he says could be totally exhausted within the next 40 years because of over-fishing.
Rapanui Council of Elders president Koro Alberto Hotus recently visited Aotearoa and was invited here by the PEW Environment group to start conversations about those issues and to develop strategies to combat illegal fishing by foreign fishers.
He says the situation is serious and if people don't act now within the next four decades fish stocks in the Pacific Ocean could completely run out.
Mr Hotus says scientists predict that in 40 years time the globe will face huge starvation if people don't start conserving fish stocks and keep the ocean from being polluted.
He says now is the time to be proactive and to save the sea which is an abundant source of food.
Mr Hotus says it is incumbent on this generation of Polynesians to face that challenge and to work together to find solutions.
