Translating Ahu Moana into the Local Community: Marine Care and Near‐Shore Coastal Co‐Management on Waiheke Island, Aotearoa New Zealand

ABSTRACT This article engages with near‐shore coastal co‐management in the Hauraki Gulf Tīkapa Moana, Aotearoa New Zealand. I analysed various qualitative sources to demonstrate how Ahu Moana (ocean care areas) as a specific form of localism was translated on the side of the local community on Waiheke Island, Auckland. A specific assemblage of marine care emerged alongside a re‐conceptualisation of the local community and a remapping of the Gulf as a relational care network. The article suggests that the attempt to realise Ahu Moana shows decolonising tendencies and challenges existing power structures. However, new patterns of inclusion and exclusion also emerged.