About the Trust

Te Wairua O Te Moananui – Ocean Spirit is a registered Charitable Trust in Aotearoa/New Zealand, based in Northland on the beautiful Tutukaka Coast.

The Trust’s vision is: a healthy Ocean in which coastal ecosystems and human communities thrive in a harmonious, respectful and mutually beneficial relationship. A relationship which also recognises the Ocean’s own intrinsic value, beyond the benefits she provides humanity.

As the name suggests, the Trust also recognises and embodies the strong spiritual connection between people and the Ocean.

Our mission: to support this relationship through education, research, advocacy and practical learning programmes, as well as to support the development of community-based initiatives that encourage generationally sustainable practices within coastal and Ocean eco-systems.

Nurturing a respectful relationship with the Ocean is core to the Vision of the Trust and we believe this is most effective through practical participation. An example of this is the Trust’s Hauora Moana (Healthy Ocean) Community Monitoring Programme.

As a country with so many coastal communities, we care deeply about the health and wellbeing of our big blue back yard. But how many of us really know what’s going on beneath the surface of our favourite beaches, bays and harbours? Our diverse coastline is the ultimate ocean playground: swimming, surfing, sailing, snorkeling, diving, kayaking, waka ama – all on our doorstep. Our reefs, estuaries, mangroves and sea-grass beds also provide us with a huge variety of kai moana. But they can only continue to do so if we treat them with respect and take responsibility for their wellbeing.

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Our Team

Glenn Edney – Founding Trustee & Hauora Moana Co-ordinator

Ocean Ecologist and Deep Ecology Practioner

He Tamaiti ahau no te moananui a kiwa – I am a child of the Pacific Ocean.

I fell in love with the Ocean as a small child and was inspired to make her my life’s work when I watched a Jacques Cousteau film about sharks. The Ocean has been my passion ever since and has been my “office” for over 30 years. She enticed me to sail beyond the blue horizon. She inspired me to become a cameraman so I could record her diverse beauty, and a writer so I could describe her many moods and primal power. I’ve worked as a professional diver and commercial skipper. I’ve studied Ocean ecology and worked as a marine naturalist. As an Ocean ecologist, the scientific understanding of how the Ocean works as a complex system fascinates me, but as a practitioner of Deep Ecology I’m filled with profound reverence for the intrinsic beauty and powerful life force that is the soul of the Ocean. Our very existence depends on a healthy Ocean. I can’t think of a better reason to celebrate, or a greater motivation to act.

I hold a Masters degree in Holistic Science from Schumacher College and Plymouth University.My ongoing research is focused on understanding the Ocean as a living being and the role she plays as the primary life support system for our planet. I also has a strong interest in bringing together traditional indigenous Ocean knowledge and modern scientific ecological understanding.

I’ve written three books and numerous articles on Ocean related topics including “The Ocean Is Alive: Re-visioning our relationship with the living Ocean”. Through my work I aim to contribute to this new vision for our relationship with the living Ocean and for recognition of the Ocean as a living being with intrinsic value far beyond the benefits she provides humanity.

EMAIL      Curriculum Vitae 2020

Janey Pares Edney – Founding Trustee & SeaBin Coordinator

Mother Nature has always been my best friend. She sustains me on every level – physical, emotional, spiritual, intellectual – and is my greatest teacher and solace as well as my playground!

I’ve lead expeditions into many wild corners of our planet; sailed her oceans; slept under her stars and shared her beauty with many feathery, furry, scaly and watery friends. I’ve articulated my experiences in words, pictures and maps in both digital and print media.

I have a BA Hons in Geography and a Post-graduate Diploma in Cartography, but variety has always been important to me, as has doing something I believe in – so I’ve had some amazing paid jobs and volunteer work: Cartographic Editor; Expedition Project Manager in East Africa and South America; safari hostess in Zimbabwe; Royal Geographical Society research assistant; Operation Raleigh International Co-ordinator; FARM Africa Project Administrator; Out of Parliament Secretary for Aotearoa New Zealand Green Party MP; TESL teacher, as well as administration for a variety of organisations including The Soil & Health AssociationAotearoa NZ, The British Offshore Sailing School and Wilderness Expertise.

My ‘crazy paving’ path in life had to satisfy 3 important ingredients – fulfilment, happiness and service to a greater good.

My love affair with the Ocean began in a sailing dingy and progressed into ocean going yachts – racing Round Britain, rounding Cape Horn; crossing the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean; sailing into Easter Island where Thor Heyerdahl was on the beach; cruising the Galapagos and most recently sailing our Wharram Catamaran between Aotearoa NZ and the Kingdom of Tonga to our diving and whale watching organisation.

I am currently handling the administrative side of the Trust – with a view of the great Pacific Ocean Moananui A Kiwa. 

Hamish Clueard – Founding Trustee

Tena koutou katoa,  No Tatou nga moana me nga awa o te oa

I’m Hamish Clueard of Ti Aki tai, Ngati Toki, Te Waiariki and Ngati Takapari decent, kei te mihi. I reside at Matapouri and Tutukaka on the east coast of Northland.

My background is in the commercial fishing industry in New Zealand, Australia and the central Pacific, and in education. I am also one of four founding members of Te Wairua O Te Moananui – Ocean Spirit Charitable Trust. 

I am an active participant in the Trusts Hauora Moana reef monitoring programme, which encourages community members to hop in the water and connect with and see what is happening on their local reefs and to make informed personal management decisions within their rohe moana.

Ali Giblin – Founding Trustee

I have an education and counselling background. In1994 I came to NZ to bring up my young family on an organic farm North of Whangarei. I have a deep interest in the health of people and the planet. I work as a Psychosynthesis Counsellor, a wholistic practice, which includes ecological, social and spiritual elements.

I have strong interest in the creation of respectful and harmonious relationships, with the tools of “Non-Violent Communication” (NVC), which we use in our consent processes within the Hauora Moana programme. I am also keenly interested in Dynamic Governance as an inclusive decision-making process. Our Te Wairua o Te Moananui Ocean Spirit Trust uses Dynamic Governance to make decisions.