It can be interesting reading about Polynesian peoples unique seafaring capacities, but I was just thinking to myself I rarely hear about it in relation to Māori people in New Zealand compared to places like Hawaii or Tonga. Am I just ignorant about Maori seagoing tradition, or were they comparatively more landlubbers than the rest of the Pacific? If not, the Maori have a famous martial culture, was water based warfare a major part of this?
Waka (Māori canoes) were still in widespread usage by the time Europeans arrived but were not used for long-distance ocean exploration.
Māori are currently thought to have first arrived in New Zealand during the late 13th Century and settlement probably continued for several generations or more. By the time Europeans first encountered Māori, less than 400 years later, any contact with the other Pacific Island nations had long been lost. This is likely because New Zealand is relatively large and had plentiful resources so trade and long-distance exploration were not necessary and, given the large distances involved (the closest inhabited islands to New Zealand being well over a thousand kilometers away) would have been too risky and costly to be profitable. The Chatham Islands were colonized by Māori during the 15th Century, so some exploration presumably continued at least till then (and after that there was very little new land around New Zealand to even be discovered), but there is no evidence of continued contact between the two populations.
In the absence of oceanic exploration, waka still played a major role in Māori society. In particular they were frequently used for the transport of people and goods, being preferred to land travel. This took place on rivers and along the coast, not on the open ocean as with the other Polynesian peoples, given how much larger and more isolated New Zealand was. Fishing was also of great importance, being one of the main food sources for Māori. Fishing trips could be quite extensive, with one account (from post-European times) being given of a single expedition that consisted of 50 canoes and that caught over 7000 sharks, and frequently traveled far from shore to reach deep waters.
Waka were also important in warfare as a form of troop transport, with the largest able to carry up to 100 soldiers. As far as I know, water-based combat was not common - as is understandable given pre-European Māori warfare lacked any form of ranged weapon so there would be no major advantage to naval warfare. One notable exception, however, was the ramming and boarding of one of Abel Tasman's boats, the day after first contact, by a waka which resulted in four European deaths and the waka escaping before any retaliation could be launched. Such an encounter suggests that naval combat wasn't totally foreign to the Māori, even if it may not have been common.