Among the interconnected Polynesian concepts lost or repressed during Tahiti's French colonization that Rochette describes: respect for tupuna, the ancestors; mana, the spiritual power of people and places; tapu, which is sacred; rahui, a restriction or prohibition; and the guardians — the whales, sharks, turtles.

For Rochette and others, countering the pressures of over-exploitation and climate change go hand-in-hand with a cultural renaissance in the Pacific island group.

"We Polynesians, in 15 or 20 years, if we don't do anything, there'll be nothing left," Rochette said in a boat, speeding down the jungle-clad coast. "We have to do it together, not just here, but the Pacific community has to do all of this together."