Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 39, Number 6, 1 June 2022 — OUR KŪPUNA AMPLIFIED THEIR NATURAL RESOURCES [ARTICLE]

OUR KŪPUNA AMPLIFIED THEIR NATURAL RESOURCES

By Puanani Fernandez-Akamine Peleke Flores recalls his tūtū talking about seeing huge "blooms" of fish like shadow balls on the shoreline when she was growing up - and telling him that her own tūtū told her they used to be mueh bigger. "Within the past 100 years the size of those blooms has decreased," said Flores. "Back then they could actually do hukilau way more often. Today, if we did hukilau as regularly as they did it would be considered overfishing." Flores manages operations, community outreach and cultural protocol for Mālama Huleia. He learned about fishpond management while working with Hi'ilei Kawelo and Keli'i Kotubetey of Paepae o He'eia in Kāne'ohe, O'ahu, where he worked for eight years before returning home to Kaua'i. He notes that the role of the fishpond (loko i'a) within the ahupua'a system extends well beyond the shoreline, and that the heahh of the loko i'a absolutely affects wild fish populations. "When we sit in agency meetings and talk about why the wild fish population is degrading, the top three reasons discussed are overfishing, pollution and climate change. But one of the main puzzle pieces, the question no one is asking, is what kept those wild fish populations so big in the first plaee?" Flores notes that early surveys documented hundreds of fishponds across the pae aina, but he believes that the actual number likely exceeds one thousand based on his own research. Fishponds functioned as ineubators for hundreds of millions of baby fish (pua). At least half of the pua born within the fish-

ponds find their way out and beeome part of the wild fish population and, ultimately, part of the food ehain for smaller nearshore carnivores, who in turn heeome food for larger carnivores and so on all the way to pelagic (open oeean) fish. As fishponds have been lost to development, disrepair or freshwater diversion, the pua have decreased proportionately, adversely affecting the entire food ehain - a fourth reason for the decrease of the wild fish population. "People often have the mindset that fishponds are like fish pens where you grow fish, eat fish, then put in some more fish through natural recruitment or restocking," said Flores. "But by understanding fishponds as incubators, our kūpuna amplified their natural resources to create wai momona - the base of a productive food ehain that feeds the pua. In turn, the excess pua from the fishponds helped amplify wild populations." According to Flores, one adult 'anae (mullet) ean produce 200,000 to 400,000 pua in one season. Because the loko i'a created abundance within the larger ecosystem, there were more opportunities for fishing. Thus, our kūpuna rarely took fish to eat directly ffom the fishpond; they could easily catch fish along the shoreline and - on Kaua'i - in the rivers. 'Alakoko is one of our biggest fishponds on Kaua'i," said Flores. "If we ean get this loko i'a back to a functioning state, there shouldn't be any excuse for not restoring other fishponds on this island, no matter how damaged. If we start fixing all our ineuhators and re-starting this maehine, then when something happens that affects our food security - be it the weather, a pandemic, whatever - we'll be ready." ■