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In October on Lifou island, a double-hulled canoe was pushed into the lagoon – a simple gesture that represented a highly meaningful moment.

It was the first launch of a ancestral vessel on Lifou in generations, an gathering that brought together the island’s main family lineages in a rare show of unity.

Mariner and advocate Aile Tikoure was instrumental in the launch. For the last eight years, he has led a program that seeks to restore ancestral vessel construction in New Caledonia.

Numerous traditional boats have been built in an effort intended to reunite local Kanak populations with their oceanic traditions. Tikoure explains the boats also promote the “opening of discussions” around ocean rights and ecological regulations.

International Advocacy

During the summer month of July, he visited France and had discussions with President Emmanuel Macron, pushing for marine policies shaped with and by local tribes that honor their relationship with the sea.

“Previous generations always navigated the ocean. We lost that for a time,” Tikoure explains. “Today we’re reclaiming it again.”

Canoes hold profound traditional importance in New Caledonia. They once symbolised mobility, exchange and clan alliances across islands, but those practices faded under colonisation and outside cultural pressures.

Heritage Restoration

The initiative started in 2016, when the New Caledonia government’s culture department was considering how to bring back heritage vessel construction methods. Tikoure collaborated with the administration and after two years the boat building initiative – known as the Kenu Waan initiative – was launched.

“The hardest part was not cutting down trees, it was persuading communities,” he says.

Project Achievements

The Kenu Waan project sought to revive traditional navigation techniques, educate new craftspeople and use boat-building to enhance cultural identity and inter-island cooperation.

Up to now, the organization has organized a showcase, issued a volume and enabled the creation or repair of approximately thirty vessels – from Goro to the northeastern coast.

Resource Benefits

Different from many other Pacific islands where deforestation has reduced wood resources, New Caledonia still has suitable wood for carving large hulls.

“In other places, they often use synthetic materials. Here, we can still carve solid logs,” he explains. “It makes all the difference.”

The canoes created under the program merge Polynesian hull design with local sailing systems.

Educational Expansion

Starting recently, Tikoure has also been instructing maritime travel and traditional construction history at the educational institution.

“For the first time ever these topics are offered at master’s level. It’s not theory – this is knowledge I’ve experienced. I’ve crossed oceans on these vessels. I’ve felt overwhelming happiness during these journeys.”

Regional Collaboration

Tikoure sailed with the crew of the traditional boat, the Fijian canoe that traveled to Tonga for the regional gathering in 2024.

“From Hawaii to Rapa Nui, including our location, it’s the same movement,” he states. “We’re taking back the maritime heritage as a community.”

Policy Advocacy

This past July, Tikoure journeyed to Nice, France to introduce a “Indigenous perspective of the marine environment” when he conferred with Macron and government representatives.

Addressing official and international delegates, he pushed for shared maritime governance based on Indigenous traditions and participation.

“It’s essential to include these communities – particularly people dependent on marine resources.”

Current Development

Now, when navigators from across the Pacific – from Fiji, the Micronesian region and Aotearoa – come to Lifou, they analyze boats together, adjust the structure and finally sail side by side.

“It’s not about duplicating the traditional forms, we enable their progression.”

Comprehensive Vision

According to Tikoure, instructing mariners and supporting ecological regulations are interrelated.

“The core concept concerns community participation: who has the right to navigate marine territories, and what authority governs what happens there? Heritage boats function as a means to start that conversation.”