Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 1, Number 5, 1 June 1984 — Nanakuli Fishing Village Has it all in Ono Hawaiian Kaukau, Fresh Island Fish [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Nanakuli Fishing Village Has it all in Ono Hawaiian Kaukau, Fresh Island Fish

Abraham Grace is a quiet, stocky and soft-spoken Hawaiian who comes from a kamaaina Kona family and has been a Nanakuli resident for a number of years. He believes in the future of Nanakuli and the entire Waianae coast because he has lived and worked among its predominantly Hawaiian community for a great manv vears.

Abe, as everyone addresses him, switched recently from being owner of his own trucking business to being owner of the Nanakuli Fishing Village, the area's only market selling fresh island fish and lreshly prepared Hawaiian foods. Why did Abe make the big switch? "Too mueh overhead in the trucking business. I left the major part of running it in the hands of an accountant," he said.

Abe, who opened his Nanakuli Fishing Village May 22, said he now knows how to manage a business, thanks in large part to training he received with the Hawaii Entrepreneurship Training and Development lnstitute (HETAD1). He was one of 27 involved in a landmark pilot project in 1982 designed to encourage entrepreneurship among Hawaiians and native Hawaiians who were in business at the time or who wished to establish new business ventures.

The project represented the first eooperative sponsorship effort by four Hawaiian agencies — Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Alu Like, Department of Hawaiian Home Lands and The Kamehameha Schools/ Bishop Estate — to address an agreed upon area of need. Dr. George Kanahele founded HETAD1 to teach the skills and procedures necessary to create a new business. Abe closed the books on his trucking business earlier this year following the heptachlor scare with the dairies. He had been hauling green ehop, the tops of pineapple plants, from the field to the dairy. On his return trip, he hauled manure from

the dairy to the field. But the heptachlor scare soon found him with limited work and a big overhead in personnel and equipment. So hedecided to close shop on the trucking business and find another source of ineome. Thus was born the Nanakuli Fishing Village where Abe himself prepares all the ono Hawaiian delicacies such as a'ama (black crab), raw ake, lomi oio, salmon, poke fish, kalua pork, laulau, squid luau, ehieken long rice, beef stew, salt meat and watercress and many, many more such foods Hawaiians enjoy. Everything is prepared by Abe himself. His laulau has just the right amount of fat and is moist. He also has lim kohu, inamona (kukui nut) and limu eleele, a rare find today.

He specializes in fresh island fish and he provides an outlet for Waianae coast fishermen to store their catches in his large coolers. Abe also has Hawaiian plate lunches or combinations and you ean eat right there in the market. He has a few tables and chairs for this purpose. Having been in the Hawaiian food business just slightly over a month now, Abe already envisions a slight expansion. He eventually wants to take over an abandoned restaurant just to the rightentrance of his store, remodel it and open it strictly as a Hawaiian eating plaee while maintaining the fish market in its present location.

Abe is appreciative of the assistance he has received from Sen. James Aki who has been very understanding and helpful in making it possible for him to get started. He appreciates OHA's advice and input through Eeonomie Development Officer James Moa and Education and Human Services Officer Kamuela Apuna. There are many others to whom Abe extends mahalo nui loa. Meanwhile, his trucking business, Manure It ine., is up for sale.

This woman customer ean attest to the service with a smile given by Abe Grace following a purchase at the Nanakuli Fishing Village. She also vouched for the delicious Hawaiian food prepared by Abe who offers a wide range of raw and cooked kaukau.