The Seahorse and the Reef

The Seahorse and the Reef

The central concern in the story The Seahorse and the Reef, by Witi Ihimaera is that some of the economy need to realise some actions they do can cause a disruption to nature, because if we don’t look after it, it won’t be there for us.

The main part in the short story is about a traditional Maori family who regularly visit a reef near their home to collect Kai Moana. One day they notice a sign has been put up by the reef stating that the reef is dangerous to be getting Kai Moana from as it is polluted and can a cause illness if you eat the Kai Moana. The family is very depressed, but as they have their last glance at the reef they once again they see a ‘beautiful Seahorse, fragile and dreamlike, searching frantically for clean and crystal waters’ meaning that there is nature and life still in our poisoned seas struggling to survive. The “shimmering” seahorse is “searching frantically” for clean and crystal water shows how bad the pollution is because of the difficulty for it to find clean water. 

These are the highlights of the story; “The Seahorse and the Reef” is environmental change. “The stain curled like fingers around the reef.” This helps us visualise the effects of pollution on our environment.  ‘Sea, we have been unkind to you. We have poisoned the land and now we feed our poison into your waters. We have lost our aroha for you and our respect for your life. Forgive us, haere friend.’ This quote by Rongo the father in the family indicates sadness towards what the family have lost which meant a lot to them. As the Nana had had sang a song to the river signified that they are sorry for what they’ve done.

Comparing this short story to reality, it is much alike. As my family and I are cruising along to paihia beach we see bags of rubbish dumped on the side of the road and in the mangroves along Opua, it is very sad and disgusting. Also the Rena oil spill that had happened in 2011 down Tauranga it was known as “New Zealand’s worst maritime environment disaster”.

Lastly I hope this message will get around that some people should look after natures presents. Witi Ihimaera wants us to respect and hang on to or culture, otherwise we will lose our cultural customs, language, and traditions. In “The Seahorse and the Reef? the reef reinforced the idea of environmental change. Witi Ihimaera wants us to realize the damage we are doing to our beautiful “clean and green? environment, before we destroy it even further. We need to care for it. It is our responsibility to overhaul our planet and certify our future well-being, and we know most of us love our Kai Moana so we wouldn’t want this taken away from us.