A kaumatua, or Maori elder, says more effort's needed to illustrate the importance of rahui to Maori.
It comes after a temporary ban was repeatedly violated in the days after a man drowned at Cable Bay in the Far North.
It's understood a number of people were angrily ordered off the beach while the rahui was in place.
READ MORE: Man who drowned at Cable Bay had saved before
Parapara Marae trustee Hone Bassett admits the rahui could have been better publicised.
He says the man who drowned, Wairongoa Clarence Renata, was a highly-respected war veteran, who died trying to save others.
"We just feel for the family that's lost their loved one. He was a hero who went to save his children and he didn't come back."
READ MORE: Seach resumes for mother missing after rescuing drowning children
And a rahui's in place at Hawke's Bay's Haumoana Beach.
It won't be lifted until a woman's found who - like Mr Renata - went into the water yesterday to help her two children.
The children made it back to the beach, but not their mother.
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