Reviving this Forgotten Craft of Traditional Boat Making in New Caledonia

During the autumn month of October on Lifou island, a ancient-style canoe was set afloat in the lagoon – a small act that signified a deeply symbolic moment.

It was the inaugural voyage of a ancestral vessel on Lifou in many decades, an occasion that assembled the island’s three chiefly clans in a uncommon display of togetherness.

Seafarer and campaigner Aile Tikoure was behind the launch. For the past eight years, he has overseen a program that aims to revive traditional boat making in New Caledonia.

Many heritage vessels have been crafted in an effort designed to reconnect local Kanak populations with their seafaring legacy. Tikoure states the boats also facilitate the “start of conversation” around ocean rights and conservation measures.

Global Outreach

During the summer month of July, he journeyed to France and had discussions with President Emmanuel Macron, pushing for maritime regulations shaped with and by Indigenous communities that acknowledge their relationship with the sea.

“Forefathers always crossed the sea. We lost that for a time,” Tikoure explains. “Currently we’re rediscovering it again.”

Canoes hold profound traditional significance in New Caledonia. They once symbolised mobility, trade and clan alliances across islands, but those practices faded under colonisation and religious conversion efforts.

Heritage Restoration

This mission started in 2016, when the New Caledonia government’s culture department was exploring how to bring back ancestral boat-making techniques. Tikoure collaborated with the administration and following a two-year period the vessel restoration program – known as the Kenu Waan initiative – was established.

“The hardest part was not wood collection, it was convincing people,” he notes.

Program Successes

The Kenu Waan project sought to revive heritage voyaging practices, mentor apprentice constructors and use vessel construction to enhance cultural identity and island partnerships.

Up to now, the organization has created a display, issued a volume and facilitated the construction or restoration of nearly three dozen boats – from the far south to the northern shoreline.

Natural Resources

Unlike many other Pacific islands where forest clearing has reduced wood resources, New Caledonia still has proper lumber for carving large hulls.

“There, they often use modern composites. Here, we can still work with whole trees,” he says. “It makes a crucial distinction.”

The vessels built under the initiative integrate oceanic vessel shapes with local sailing systems.

Teaching Development

Beginning this year, Tikoure has also been instructing maritime travel and heritage building techniques at the educational institution.

“It’s the first time this knowledge are offered at graduate studies. This isn’t academic – it’s something I’ve experienced. I’ve navigated major waters on these canoes. I’ve felt overwhelming happiness while accomplishing this.”

Regional Collaboration

He voyaged with the members of the Fijian vessel, the Pacific vessel that journeyed to Tonga for the oceanic conference in 2024.

“Across the Pacific, through various islands, we’re part of a collective initiative,” he states. “We’re restoring the maritime heritage collectively.”

Policy Advocacy

In July, Tikoure journeyed to the French city to present a “Indigenous perspective of the sea” when he had discussions with Macron and other leaders.

Before state and international delegates, he pushed for shared maritime governance based on Kanak custom and local engagement.

“It’s essential to include them – particularly fishing communities.”

Contemporary Evolution

Now, when navigators from throughout the region – from Fiji, Micronesia and Aotearoa – come to Lifou, they study canoes in cooperation, refine the construction and eventually sail side by side.

“We’re not simply replicating the traditional forms, we enable their progression.”

Integrated Mission

In his view, teaching navigation and supporting ecological regulations are connected.

“The core concept concerns community participation: what permissions exist to navigate marine territories, and who determines what happens there? Heritage boats serve as a method to begin that dialogue.”