case study
When data communication expertise meets conservation urgency and indigenous cultural authority
Nómadas partnered with Ngāi Tahu tribe to turn a stalled international agreement and a pile of bycatch data into an iwi-led consumer awareness campaign aimed at the supply chains still killing the toroa — the Antipodean albatross.
A white paper for this project is available here with additional insights.
about the client
They say it best: Ngāi Tahu is the principal iwi of Te Waipounamu, the South Island of Aotearoa New Zealand, and has held the toroa as a sacred taonga for generations. The toroa represent beauty, power, leadership, and peace.
Toroa feathers are tapu, worn by high-ranking individuals; kākahu cloaks for births, weddings, and funerals are woven with toroa feathers; toroa bone and feather have shaped hooks, pendants, flutes, and canoe adornment; and one tukutuku weaving pattern, roimata toroa — albatross tears — is stitched with vertical lines to represent misfortune and disaster.
Ngāi Tahu members championed this campaign proposal because that misfortune is no longer a metaphor. It is a bird disappearing from the sky in real time, and the iwi (tribe) was determined that the response carry its own voice, not someone else's.
overview
Half of the world's toroa/Antipodean Albatross population has disappeared, and the species continues to decline at roughly 12% per year. The cause is well documented: longline fishing vessels targeting tuna and swordfish hook and drown the birds as bycatch. Five mitigation measures — already identified and demonstrated to cut seabird bycatch by more than 90% — exist and work. What is missing is uptake.
Efforts to educate and hold fishers and governments accountable were already underway, tracked through New Zealand's Department of Conservation hui. But the general public, retailers, and seafood consumers across the US and Europe — the people and companies with the leverage to change what fishers can sell and where — were largely in the dark. Even sustainability certification bodies were lagging behind the science.
Nómadas was engaged to close that gap: a consumer awareness campaign proposal, drafted with and for Ngāi Tahu, designed to raise the volume in the US and Europe and put subtle, sustained pressure on the supply chain — from consumers and retailers, back through fishers, to their investors, shareholders, board members, and insurers. Southern Seabird Solutions advised on the strategy for the portion of the campaign aimed at Spain, whose swordfish fleet is among the heaviest overlapping with toroa foraging routes.
approach
Iwi-Led, Not Iwi-Consulted
The campaign goal was never a Nómadas voice with a Ngāi Tahu logo on it. Every goal, tactic, and partnership was built to demonstrate an inclusive, holistic stewardship perspective and to lead with Ngāi Tahu values, view, and voice — including the jobs the campaign itself could create for iwi members in video production, graphic design, copywriting, partnership management, and public relations.
Follow the Pressure, Not Just the Birds
Awareness alone doesn't move a supply chain. We mapped a full pressure chain — from individual consumers and grocery shoppers, through retailers and distributors, to the fishers, investors, and insurers who ultimately set fishing practice — and built calls-to-action at each link: choose seabird-safe tuna and swordfish, share the campaign, donate.
Borrow Credibility, Don't Manufacture It
Southern Seabird Solutions advised, drawing on an established relationship with the fleets and regulators involved. Potential partners were scoped by proximity to real leverage: grocers leading on sustainability (Kroger, Wholefoods), a distributor with a head start on the five mitigation practices (Sealord), NGOs with clout (Audubon Society, WWF, Nature Conservancy, Sierra Club), and creators with reach already built - a NatGeo photographer with 7M followers, a bird photographer with 1M, a Pacific tuna vessel captain already posting seabird-safe practices directly to fishers.
solutions
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Drafted the Toroa Comeback Campaign: an iwi-led consumer awareness campaign proposal targeting the US and European seafood supply chain
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Structured campaign goals, calls-to-action, and iwi benefits around Ngāi Tahu values, voice, and economic participation
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Scoped a partner landscape spanning Indigenous-led conservation groups, major US grocers, seafood distributors, conservation NGOs, online influencers, and sustainability-forward global brands
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Brought in Southern Seabird Solutions to advise the Spain-facing thread of the campaign, targeting the swordfish fleet overlap with toroa foraging routes
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Proposed tactics rooted in iwi cultural knowledge, including video documenting the creation of the roimata toroa weaving design and the Pourangahua kūmara story, and the making of kākahu and flutes from toroa feathers and bone
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Defined measures of success spanning fisher/distributor/grocer standards changed, online content impressions and reshares, and traditional media pickup
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Proposed a donation-proxy retail tactic (e.g., ocean-plastic bracelets) modeled on comparable successful campaigns
results
In the time since the Nómadas campaigns, the ongoing efforts of all the organizations involved have paid off - the sustainability certification gap is closing. The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), which certifies seafood, published the most significant revision in its 25-year history — introducing strengthened, quantifiable bycatch requirements for endangered, threatened, and protected species, including seabirds like the toroa to go gradually into effect through 2030.
50%
Of the Global Toroa Population Lost — the Urgency the Campaign Was Built to Meet
90%
Bycatch Reduction Demonstrated by the Mitigation Measures the Campaign Promotes
738
Fisheries Impacted by MSC Certification Update
This case study was produced by Nómadas using Claude.ai using source material and outputs that Nómadas generated AI-free.