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During the autumn month of October on the island of Lifou, a traditional twin-hulled vessel was launched into the lagoon – a seemingly minor event that marked a highly meaningful moment.

It was the maiden journey of a ancestral vessel on Lifou in generations, an gathering that assembled the island’s main family lineages in a rare show of unity.

Mariner and advocate Aile Tikoure was instrumental in the launch. For the previous eight-year period, he has overseen a initiative that aims to revive heritage canoe building in New Caledonia.

Numerous traditional boats have been constructed in an initiative intended to reunite local Kanak populations with their maritime heritage. Tikoure explains the boats also promote the “beginning of dialogue” around ocean rights and environmental policies.

Global Outreach

In July, he visited France and had discussions with President Emmanuel Macron, pushing for ocean governance shaped with and by local tribes that honor their relationship with the sea.

“Our ancestors always navigated the ocean. We forgot that knowledge for a period,” Tikoure states. “Today we’re reclaiming it again.”

Traditional vessels hold significant historical meaning in New Caledonia. They once stood for movement, exchange and clan alliances across islands, but those customs diminished under colonisation and outside cultural pressures.

Cultural Reclamation

His journey started in 2016, when the New Caledonia cultural authorities was considering how to reintroduce heritage vessel construction methods. Tikoure collaborated with the government and two years later the boat building initiative – known as Kenu Waan project – was born.

“The biggest challenge was not cutting down trees, it was gaining local support,” he notes.

Initiative Accomplishments

The program sought to revive ancestral sailing methods, educate new craftspeople and use boat-building to enhance community pride and regional collaboration.

So far, the organization has created a display, issued a volume and facilitated the creation or repair of nearly three dozen boats – from Goro to the northern shoreline.

Resource Benefits

Unlike many other oceanic nations where forest clearing has diminished wood resources, New Caledonia still has appropriate timber for carving large hulls.

“Elsewhere, they often employ marine plywood. In our location, we can still work with whole trees,” he says. “That represents all the difference.”

The vessels built under the initiative merge Polynesian hull design with local sailing systems.

Teaching Development

Beginning this year, Tikoure has also been instructing seafaring and traditional construction history at the University of New Caledonia.

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

Regional Collaboration

He voyaged with the crew of the Uto ni Yalo, the heritage craft that traveled to Tonga for the regional gathering in 2024.

“Throughout the region, through various islands, it’s the same movement,” he says. “We’re restoring the sea as a community.”

Policy Advocacy

This past July, Tikoure travelled to Nice, France to share a “Indigenous perspective of the sea” when he met with Macron and other leaders.

Before state and international delegates, he advocated for shared maritime governance based on local practices and local engagement.

“We must engage them – especially people dependent on marine resources.”

Modern Adaptation

Today, when navigators from across the Pacific – from Fiji, the Micronesian region and Aotearoa – come to Lifou, they study canoes together, adjust the structure and finally voyage together.

“We don’t just copy the ancient designs, we enable their progression.”

Integrated Mission

For Tikoure, teaching navigation and promoting conservation measures are linked.

“The core concept concerns community participation: who is entitled to navigate marine territories, and who determines what happens in these waters? Traditional vessels serve as a method to start that conversation.”