Cook Islands is looking to connect the existing traditional approaches to marine resources with modern conservation by continuing to support a system of customary marine closures (Ra’ui) that currently conserve reef resources, with new citizen science initiatives which connect traditional knowledge of the environment and marine monitoring. Ra’ui sites have been a traditional way by which community leaders on Rarotonga (and the surrounding islands) decree temporary prohibition on access for harvesting of marine resources, which differs from government-appointed marine protected areas, as they are based on a traditional system and regulated by traditional practices. As the Cook Islands begins to look towards how to bridge traditional and scientific methods of management of its marine resources, the approach is beginning to get new recognition.
