Connecting Past and Future through Fishing at Ha‘ena, Kauai
I took these photos for Hana Hou Magazine a few years back of a longtime Kauai (Ha‘ena) fisherman, Keli’i Alapai and his son Kanoe. Keli’i and Kanoe are Hawaiian subsistence fishermen or lawai‘a, a tradition that miraculously survived the onslaught of development and over-tourism on Kauai’s North Shore and today stands as a model for community-based resource management and cultural preservation.
For those who don’t know: Ha‘ena is the last ahupua‘a (land division from the mountains, across the reefs and out into the sea) at the end of the road on Kauai’s once-remote North Shore. It held onto the traditional Hawaiian system of natural resource management well into the 20th century – after it had all but disappeared in other parts of the Islands. This was thanks to a group of residents, the Hui Ku‘ai ‘Āina, who negotiated with the local landowner to collectively manage Ha‘ena in keeping with the ahupua‘a tradition – as shareholders who could use croplands, fishing grounds, and grazing areas according to mutual agreements and responsibilities. This not only ensured they could all continue to access the source of their livelihoods, but it preserved the ahupua‘a's natural resources according to local Hawaiian knowledge and customs.
The Hui was eventually dissolved by competing private interests, and after the last remaining residents were evicted, much of the area was turned into a State Park (including the shoreline strip that briefly became the hippie treehouse community known as Taylor Camp).
In the ’90s the end of the road at Ke‘e – that had been under State management for two decades – was crawling with bumper-to-bumper rental cars, the narrow country road choked by double parking, the toilets unspeakably filthy, the beach windblown with trash, the water tainted with sunscreen, and the fish population harassed and endangered.
In 1999, a local community organization, the Hui Maka‘āinana o Makana, approached the State for permission to actively steward the cultural and environmental resources that were steadily degrading at Ha‘ena – restoring ancient lo‘i kalo, clearing invasive overgrowth, and reconnecting residents to the history and traditions of their ancestors.
Kupuna (elders) like Uncle Tommy Hashimoto, a master fisherman who was part of the original Ha‘ena Hui, guided this work and passed the torch onto the next generation, including Uncle Tommy’s son-in-law, Keli‘i. Keli‘i’s father, Samson Mahuiki, was a great horseman, cowboy and taro farmer with family roots on the Napali. Before helicopters came to Kauai, it was Samson on horseback who rescued people in trouble on the rugged coastline.
In 2012 the Hui helped spawn a new initiative – the Ha‘ena Community-Based Subsistence Fishing Management Area. The first of its kind in the U.S., this offshore area is co-managed by the State and the local community, and designated for subsistence fishing only, according to Hawaiian practices passed down from generation to generation. In stark contrast to commercially – or recreationally driven – approaches to fishing, this area protects and supports the complete ecosystem, including its populations of fish and other marine life, while ensuring enough fish for subsistence consumption among local families. This means cultivating an intimate relationship with the ecosystem and knowing, for example, when specific species are spawning and, therefore, kapu (off-limits for fishing). In addition to protecting the community’s resources, the initiative helps to educate newcomers and prevent misuse of the fishing grounds.
In these pictures, you’ll see Keli‘i and Kanoe using the traditional Hawaiian throw net at Weleula, Pawaiaka, and Kaleinakauila. Keli‘i and I are old friends. We met in the ’70s at my neighbor Delbert Goo’s house in Kalihiwai. We both worked construction and fished – I worked as a diver for Boy Akana Fisheries in Kalihiwai and Kauapea. For decades, we nurtured our friendship at parties, community gatherings and job sites. Keli‘i is a highly-skilled, creative and widely respected heavy equipment operator.
“We’re halfway there. Back to where was small kid time – a big improvement for sure.” says Keli‘i of the area’s restoration and conservation. “But the last half the hardest. Not like before. We fighting ocean warming, global warming, more floods, more droughts. The ocean full of rubbish, and we get all these invasive limu (seaweed) floating in, taking over. Who knows where they coming from?”
In order to make meaningful progress, Keli‘i highlights the need for more locally-specific rules that reflect the environmental differences across the Hawaiian archipelago. “The State is helping with enforcement, but the rules gotta change. We get the same rules for every island – but conditions not the same, nothing’s the same. Over 300 miles from Big Island to Kauai. Conditions from one ahupua‘a to the next on the same island not the same. How can it be the same for seven islands? Every ahupua‘a’s reefs have different currents, different temperatures, different sun, and different seasons. So the fish spawn at different times in different places. Rules gotta be made according to local conditions and local knowledge. Before it was the konohiki (traditional local resource manager) that made the kapu (closed season). This kind of stuff is local – not one size fits all.”
“This is not about pointing fingers,” he adds. “It’s something that we learned when we were small. Mālama what you get. Take care what you get. Take what you need and that’s it. Think about tomorrow, think about the future. Simple.”
“We only fish in our own place. We don’t go to other folks places. We simply asking that when you come fish in our community, you respect our traditions, the way we fish, respect the spawning seasons, take care of the fishing spots before you go take from them. Respect our people, our place, our resource.”
