Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf is extremely sick. Fish stocks are depleted, the once thriving sea floor is essentially dead. Shellfish beds have been decimated. And pollution levels are dangerously high. The Hauraki Gulf Forum has been working for 20 years to reverse this situation. The forum is an umbrella body with stakeholders including central and local government, iwi, scientists, the University of Auckland, the fishing industry and many other groups. Progress has been slow and it had been identified work was required to get everyone ‘on the same page’. 

Principals agreed to work on a pro-bono basis. At the Forum’s annual Making Waves conference we ran an exercise with the 200+ attendees to develop a draft umbrella story for the Park. Attendees were split into groups and given a ‘story structure’ to populate. The drafts were read aloud. The results were inspiring, with many common themes. The exercise itself was a very positive experience for all involved. Principals then took the stories away and developed the final version.

The story has been very well received and used across various communication channels – starting with the organisation’s annual report, the 2020 State of the Environment Report and the Forums 20th birthday event.

Learn more and how you can get involved at gulfjournal.org.nz