University of Hawai'i Press

Chapter Title: Food of Our Future Grows from Seeds of Our Past Chapter Author(s): Staff at Kuaʻāina Ulu ʻAuamo

Book Title: The Value of Hawaiʻi 3 Book Subtitle: Hulihia, the Turning Book Editor(s): Noelani Goodyear-Ka‘ōpua, Craig Howes, Jonathan Kay Kamakawiwo‘ole Osorio, Aiko Yamashiro Published by: University of Hawai'i Press. (2020) Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv1pncr2m.30

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide

range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and

facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at

Terms and Conditions of Use

This book is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. Funding is provided by Biographical Research Center.

University of Hawai'i Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Value of Hawaiʻi 3

This content downloaded from 72.253.238.8 on Thu, 24 Aug 2023 08:20:16 +00:00 All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms

Food of Our Future Grows from Seeds of Our Past

Staff at Kuaʻāina Ulu A̒uamo

“Food sovereignty” is an increasingly used term in Hawaiʻi, but many may not know its origin, meaning, or application to our community. First developed in 1996 by La Via Campesina—an international movement of rural people—the Declaration of Nyéléni at the first global forum on food sovereignty in Mali, Africa in 2007 defines it this way:

Food sovereignty is the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems. It puts the aspirations and needs of those who produce, distribute and consume food at the heart of food systems and policies rather than the demands of markets and corporations.

Food security concerns itself with food access in the conventional transnational context. Undergirded by ecological and human rights for all, food sovereignty rec­ ognizes a local right to determine and transform one’s own food systems. Over 2,500 miles from anywhere, Hawai‘i has many unique reasons to see food sover­ eignty as a response to the precarious dependency of our current food system. Eighty-five to ninety percent of our food is imported. Much of it is processed and of low nutritional value. The COVID-19 pandemic makes our food system challenges glaringly obvious. As we rebuild, concern grows over whether the government and current food systems can address these challenges. As with care for our greater environment, it might be better if a vision and cultural shift in our food systems starts from the ground up, with Hawaiʻi’s people.

Indigenous and local culture and history can guide us. Prior to Western con­ tact, Hawai‘i was food self-sufficient, supporting a population estimated to be close to one million people, almost as many as the 2010 US Census estimation of 1.365 million. Today, a traditional Hawaiian diet, made up of seafood and traditional crops such as taro and sweet potato, is a recognized contributor to improved health, especially for Native Hawaiians who experience health disparities per capita. We see pathways in the rigorous epistemology of pre-Western Hawaiʻi, which many in our communities work to carry forward today. It offers a very different relationship to our food, places, communities, politics, and each other.

111

This content downloaded from 72.253.238.8 on Thu, 24 Aug 2023 08:20:16 +00:00 All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms

112 The Value of Hawai‘ i 3

Hawaiian Food Sovereignty of the Past: Ā̒ina Momona

Native Hawaiians developed food, environmental stewardship, customs, and tradi­ tions and expertise based on intimate knowledge and long-term multigenerational ecological observations. Traditional food systems produced a resource surplus that exceeded population needs. True on the land and in the sea, this state is referred to as ā̒ina momona, an abundant productive ecological system that supports community well-being. Food sovereignty is part and parcel of seeking ā̒ina momona. Hawaiʻi’s people and biocultural resources—storied landscapes, sacred forests, agroforests, streams and rivers, agricultural fields, fisheries, fishponds, and reefs—are deeply damaged by over 200 years of political, economic, and social upheaval and change. Rarely do people, even residents, understand Hawaiʻi’s his­ toric and ongoing role in the US campaign of influence in the Pacific and Asia, or the consequences of colonization on Native Hawaiians. Few know of the historical erosion of Native Hawaiian governance, the overthrow of the internationally recognized Hawaiian Kingdom, the post-overthrow policies to wipe out Native Hawaiian language, culture, and identity, or the historical and ongoing severance of relationships and familial connections to ancestral lands and the natural world.

But not all is lost, nor were Native Hawaiians idle in the last two centuries. In the lessons learned from the past lies a path toward a better future. Prior to the overthrow, Native Hawaiians developed an evolving governance system that inte­ grated community and resource management practices for ā̒ina (referred to then as the ahupua a̒ or moku system), and ā̒ina-based leadership embodied in leaders called konohiki. Leadership with a konohiki mindset connected better with and involved communities to care and govern their place. Hawaiians also became one of the world’s most literate populations, entered into treaties with other nation-states, and published books on history, tradition, and culture still used today. In preserv­ ing a sense of cultural and national identity, they planted seeds for future genera­ tions to reconnect with each other, their culture, their places, and even the world. Those seeds germinate today.

The ongoing Native Hawaiian movement emerging from the 1960–79 renaissance based its attendant values, customs, and practices on the foundations left by previous generations. This traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) includes cultural legacies retained by ʻohana and individual kūpuna (elders), kumu (knowl­ edge sources), kahu (guardians), kāhuna (priests), and loea (experts and profes­ sionals) who preserved traditions through practice or oral history.

Hawaiian Food Sovereignty of the Future

Because of such threats as the current COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, sea-level rise, natural disasters, and labor issues such as shipping or airline strikes, Hawai‘i must move away from dependency on imported goods which make up ninety percent of our food. To achieve food sovereignty, we must draw upon our community spirit and Hawaiʻi’s TEK.

This content downloaded from 72.253.238.8 on Thu, 24 Aug 2023 08:20:16 +00:00 All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms

113 Kua ā̒ina Ulu A̒uamo, Food of Our Future

Three community movements in Hawaiʻi ground their actions and advocacy in the idea that “I ka wā ma mua, ka wā ma hope,” the future continues from the path laid behind us. Each effort bridges people to place through a community-based biocultural resource management strategy to restore nearshore fisheries, loko i a̒ (fishponds), a traditional aquaculture practice and the celebration, stewardship, and restoration of native limu (seaweed).

Community-based Subsistence Fishing Areas (CBSFA)

In 1994, Hawaiʻi policymakers passed the CBSFA law (HRS 188-22.6) inspired by the konohiki practices of Moʻomomi, Molokaʻi, and Governor Waihe e̒’s Molokaʻi Subsistence Task Force to reaffirm and protect fishing practices customarily and traditionally exercised for purposes of Native Hawaiian subsistence, culture, and religion. Government leadership took almost twenty years to pass the first CBSFA rules in Hā e̒na, Kauaʻi. Today three other communities are in the queue for rulemaking: Moʻomomi, Molokaʻi; Kīpahulu, Maui; and Miloliʻi, Hawaiʻi island. These communities work together in the spirit of lawai a̒ pono to fish virtuously, to fish Hawaiian, and to care for their fisheries.

Loko I a̒

Found nowhere else in the world, ancient Hawaiian loko i a̒ were a technologically advanced, efficient, and extensive form of aquaculture. Indicators of ‘āina momona, they provided much of the protein in the traditional Native Hawaiian diet, and retain the potential to contribute to healthy and robust food systems and fisheries. Over recent decades, Hawaiian communities and kiaʻi loko (fishpond guardians and caretakers) worked to restore loko i a̒ and reclaim the knowledge and practice of loko i a̒ culture. Recognizing shared challenges to increase collaboration and accelerate restoration and food production, kiaʻi loko from six Hawaiian Islands formed the Hui Mālama Loko I a̒, a network of loko i a̒ and kiaʻi loko. Since 2004, Hui Mālama Loko I a̒ has met annually to strengthen relationships and share experience and expertise.

Limu

Limu had a significant role in many aspects of Hawaiian culture and ā̒ina momona. Nowhere else in the world was limu used as extensively. Hawaiian people gathered it for food, medicine, and spiritual purposes. Along with fish and poi, limu was the third major component of a healthy traditional diet by providing flavor and key vitamins and minerals.

Revival and perpetuation of TEK and connections to limu will also develop the biocultural systems that limu depends upon, and that depend upon limu. To carry out this crucial pathway to ā̒ina momona, a new, burgeoning, and multigenerational movement formed the Limu Hui.

This content downloaded from 72.253.238.8 on Thu, 24 Aug 2023 08:20:16 +00:00 All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms

114 The Value of Hawai‘ i 3

Building Movement Networks for Community Resilience

Kua‘āina Ulu ‘Auamo (KUA) means “grassroots growing through shared responsi­ bility.” KUA—or “backbone”—gathers, organizes, mobilizes, and supports community-based natural resource management networks—communities, practi­ tioners, families, individuals, and organizations—who work to perpetuate TEK and build a stronger sense of local governance and empowered management of place. KUA reinvigorates sentiments and traditions of laulima, aloha ā̒ina, and mālama ā̒ina as embodied in TEK and its attendant values, ethics, and regional place-based practices. KUA’s community-driven approach supports E Alu Pū, a network of thirty-six mālama ‘āina (natural and cultural resource stewardship) groups, Hui Mālama Loko I‘a, a consortium of over forty fishponds and fishpond complexes, and the Limu Hui, a network of native seaweed gatherers, growers, and stewards.

The waiwai (value) of Hawaiʻi lies in its people and brings them together to work towards ā̒ina momona. E Alu Pū, Hui Mālama Loki I a̒, and Limu Hui efforts have sprouted the seeds left by our kūpuna. They can teach, guide, and spearhead this work; however, the true revival of our loko i a̒, limu, fisheries, wahi pana, and ahupua a̒ depends on the development of a whole community. Food sovereignty is an ecosystem of which we are all a part. Every Hawaiʻi resident and visitor has a function. How will you activate your role? What seeds will you plant today? It will take a whole community to move us away from our current corporate and foreign food overdependency and toward more sustainable livelihoods and food systems.

Work Cited

Declaration of Nyéléni. Declaration of the Forum for Food Sovereignty, Nyéléni, Mali, 27 Feb. 2007.

This essay is the collective manaʻo of Kua‘āina Ulu ‘Auamo staff derived from numerous conversations on this subject.

Kevin Chang and Miwa Tamanaha, Co-Directors, Kua ā̒ina Ulu A̒uamo Brenda Asuncion, Hui Malama Loko I a̒ Coordinator Alex Connelly, E Alu Pū Coordinator and Program Assistant Ginger Gohier, Community Outreach and Engagement Coordinator Wally Ito, Limu Hui Coordinator Kim Moa, Communications Coordinator Lauren Muneoka, Program Associate and Technical Specialist Niegel Rozet, Planner

This content downloaded from 72.253.238.8 on Thu, 24 Aug 2023 08:20:16 +00:00 All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms

Welcome to Keawanui, a fifty- five- acre marvel of Hawaiian ancestral aqua- culture technology over eight hundred years old. Welcome to the future. We invite you to envision futures differently with us. We invite you to a future that makes Indigenous people and our cultural food systems central to the survival of all people, particularly in these times of rising temperatures and seas. If you come as a respectful visitor to Keawanui and to Molokaʻi, you need to think about what you can give to this vision and to this island, not just what you want to see or do or take. Visitors to any part of Hawaiʻi cannot truly know our lands and waters without developing relationships with the kānaka ( people) who reside upon and work these ʻāina, these places that feed us.

Located in the ahupuaʻa (district) of Kaʻamola, Keawanui is the largest loko iʻa (fishpond) on the island of Molokaʻi, and the only one that has been restored to functionality. Moloka‘i traditions tell us that centuries ago, thou- sands of people— prob ably a third of all the residents on the island— came together to pass stones hand- to- hand over the steep mountainous terrain separating the north and south shores of Moloka‘i. Like a lei adorning the island, they stood shoulder to shoulder, transporting the basalt rocks that would become the kuapā (walls) of the sixty- eight loko iʻa that once existed on the south- facing side of the island (the northern seas and shoreline were too rough for such structures). From a bird’s- eye view, the fishponds themselves became like a lei gracing and adorning Molokaʻi, the island child of Hina. Long before the loko iʻa were built, Hina herself walked along the southern coast, creating freshwater springs by plunging her ʻōʻō (digging stick) into the soft earth. A few of these springs still feed Keawanui fishpond.

“Welcome to the Future” Restoring Keawanui Fishpond

Kalaniua Ritte, Hanohano Naehu, Noelani Goodyear- Kaʻōpua, and Julie Warech

Aikau, Hokulani K., and Gonzalez, Vernadette Vicuña, eds. <i>Detours : A Decolonial Guide to Hawai'i</i>. Durham: Duke University Press, 2019. Accessed August 24, 2022. ProQuest Ebook Central. Created from uhm on 2022-08-24 09:26:40.

C op

yr ig

ht ©

2 01

9. D

uk e

U ni

ve rs

ity P

re ss

. A ll

rig ht

s re

se rv

ed .

RESTORING KEAWANUI FISHPOND 231

For centuries loko iʻa have provided Kanaka Maoli with regular supplies of herbivorous fish, which are both more sustainable and more reliable than hunting for deep- water carnivorous fish such as the tuna or swordfish that are more frequently consumed today. It is estimated that in 1901, over one million pounds of fish were still being raised in fishponds on the islands. By the 1970s, this figure had dropped to only about twenty thousand pounds per year. On Oʻahu, fishponds were filled in for suburban development or destroyed during the construction of military bases. On Molokaʻi, loko iʻa became neglected as a cap i tal ist plantation economy rose, challenging the subsistence economy.

The restoration of Keawanui fishpond is a product of one of the first Hawaiian community- driven efforts, dating back to the 1980s, to restore loko iʻa in the con temporary era as part of a vision for food self- sufficiency through the use of Indigenous cultural traditions and innovations. The kiaʻi loko (fish- pond caretakers/guardians), Kalaniua Ritte, and Hanohano Naehu, who co- wrote this piece, acknowledge that even though they have been working to revitalize Keawanui since 2001, we have only begun to scratch the surface of what this cultural, historic trea sure left by our ancestors can do for us in these pre sent days. As modern Kānaka, we see Keawanui as an ancient answer brought into con temporary context. As a new generation of kiaʻi, we improvise without compromise. The value of aloha ʻāina (love of land and country) continues to drive us, just as it guided our mentor, Walter Ritte, and the kūpuna (ancestors) who came before. While we make slight adaptations and modifications to the fishpond, we hold fast to the cultural practice of aloha ʻāina because we know it is the only way to secure a sustainable and just future for generations to come.

ʻĀina is kanaka is ʻāina is kanaka. The format of this essay illustrates the ways ‘āina and kanaka are intimately connected and co- constitutive. If you were to visit Keawanui in person, Hanohano would point out the three ele- ments necessary for a structurally restored loko iʻa: the kuapā (wall), the mākāhā (gate), and the pūnawai (freshwater source). In this piece, we guide the reader through these three dif fer ent parts of the loko iʻa; a narrative tour of what a fully functioning fishpond looks like. As scholars who have vis- ited and supported Keawanui, Noelani Goodyear- Kaʻōpua and Julie Warech have noted the ways the kiaʻi themselves are a fourth necessary aspect of the loko iʻa. Throughout the piece, we juxtapose the structural ele ments and show how they act as meta phors for the three kānaka who have brought the fishpond back to life: Walter Ritte, Kalaniua Ritte, and Hanohano Naehu. The layout of this essay is meant to mimic the ways the kiaʻi carefully choose and

Aikau, Hokulani K., and Gonzalez, Vernadette Vicuña, eds. <i>Detours : A Decolonial Guide to Hawai'i</i>. Durham: Duke University Press, 2019. Accessed August 24, 2022. ProQuest Ebook Central. Created from uhm on 2022-08-24 09:26:40.

C op

yr ig

ht ©

2 01

9. D

uk e

U ni

ve rs

ity P

re ss

. A ll

rig ht

s re

se rv

ed .

Ritte, Naehu, Goodyear-Kaʻōpua, and Warech232

lay stones one on top of another to build the vari ous ele ments of the pond. Here, photos and blocks of text are consciously arranged to emulate that stacking, which builds a strong and lasting wall, protecting the waters and beings within the loko kuapā.

The Kuapā/Uncle Walter Loko iʻa are an aquacultural in- novation unique to Hawaiʻi, and they took several dif fer ent forms depending on the resources of the area. Keawanui is a premier example of the loko kuapā style, which uses a seawall built from stones to protect an area of rela- tively shallow water. Loko kuapā cannot be found anywhere else in the world outside of Hawaiʻi, and the islands of Molokaʻi and Oʻahu were known for this technological advancement. Their invention re- sulted from intimate observation of environmental pro cesses specific to par tic u lar places and from the deep relationships that Kanaka Maoli had (and some still have) with our ʻāina and kai (seas).

Walter Ritte Jr. has been a leader of aloha ʻāina movements for most of his adult life. A native of Molokaʻi, he became involved in the Hui Alaloa’s fight to maintain Hawai­ ian access rights for subsistence and cultural practices in the 1970s. Because of his hunting prowess, he was asked in 1976 to join a group resisting the U.S. Navy’s bomb­ ing of the neighboring island of Kahoʻolawe. Walter and eight others made the first landing in January of that year. He returned to Kaho‘olawe less than two weeks later with his wife, Loretta, and sister, Scarlet. The following year, he and Richard Saw­ yer made the longest of the 1970s protest landings on the island. And that was only the beginning.

Walter’s strategic view of Hawaiian politics only grew over the next de­ cades. He served in the 1978 Hawaii State Constitutional Convention and was one of the first trustees elected to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. He has fought numerous battles to protect his home island from foreign­ driven, corporate­ controlled change, including cruise ships and biotech giants, such as Monsanto. He is the founder of Hui o Kuapā, an organ ization that works to restore ancestral fishponds. Hui o Kuapā was started in 1989, and the collective began restoring fishponds across Moloka‘i, starting with Honouliwai and Kahinapōhaku. For Walter and the other founding mem­ bers, engaging Molokaʻi youth in this pro cess was critical; they integrated the physical labor of rebuilding kuapā with leadership training to fortify communities.

Aikau, Hokulani K., and Gonzalez, Vernadette Vicuña, eds. <i>Detours : A Decolonial Guide to Hawai'i</i>. Durham: Duke University Press, 2019. Accessed August 24, 2022. ProQuest Ebook Central. Created from uhm on 2022-08-24 09:26:40.

C op

yr ig

ht ©

2 01

9. D

uk e

U ni

ve rs

ity P

re ss

. A ll

rig ht

s re

se rv

ed .

The formal restoration pro cess at Keawanui began in 2001. When Hui o Kuapā first arrived, the pond was in disrepair, not having been used since the 1940s. The place was like a swampy jungle, overgrown with mangrove and buffalo grass. If you walked into the pond from shore, you would be up to your hips in mud from the sediment runoff. And there was a massive opening in the wall. The kuapā was therefore the first ele ment to be restored at Keawanui. It is the most visibly recognizable feature that defines and sets the scope of this loko iʻa. The wall stands higher than the highest tide, and it protects the pond, to a certain extent, from predators and poachers.

The vision for Keawanui emerged a few de cades before restoration began, in the late 1970s, when Walter visited Keawanui “with the kūpuna, and they said this place has to be kept for the Hawaiians . . .  so we started to figure out whose place is this and it became known to us that it was Kamehameha Schools.” Kamehameha was

planning to develop the area, “to have dredging done out on the reef, put hotels out there, and then they also talked about having a land­ ing strip.” Walter emphasizes, “we stopped it.” This is what a kuapā does: it protects a bounded area from encroachment and provides a sanctuary in which young ones can grow.

At more than fifty acres, Keawanui is the largest loko iʻa on Molokaʻi. Here it is pictured in the context of its location within the ahupuaʻa of Kaʻamola, a land division that stretches from mountain to reef. Hui o Kuapā’s long- term vision is to work with the landowner, the Kamehameha Schools, to restore the whole ahupua‘a to allow sustainable food produc- tion. Photo graph by Noelani Goodyear­ Kaʻōpua.

Aikau, Hokulani K., and Gonzalez, Vernadette Vicuña, eds. <i>Detours : A Decolonial Guide to Hawai'i</i>. Durham: Duke University Press, 2019. Accessed August 24, 2022. ProQuest Ebook Central. Created from uhm on 2022-08-24 09:26:40.

C op

yr ig

ht ©

2 01

9. D

uk e

U ni

ve rs

ity P

re ss

. A ll

rig ht

s re

se rv

ed .

Ritte, Naehu, Goodyear-Kaʻōpua, and Warech234

Since Hui o Kuapā began its work at Keawanui, the hui has taken responsibility to manage a total land and water area of nearly seventy- five acres. Of this area, the kuapā bounds about fifty- five acres within the loko iʻa itself. Much of the early work was in rebuilding the kuapā. Follow- ing a traditional style, rocks are strategically placed so that each interlocks with the others around it. In order to ensure stability, rocks of vari ous sizes are used to minimize gaps. Yet, the wall is both sturdy and porous. In a way, it breathes with the tides, allow- ing a certain amount of flow and exchange between the waters within and the waters outside. Furthermore, the outer side edge of the wall that faces the ocean is designed with a slight slope, not a ninety- degree angle. This slope allows wave energy to dissipate as it hits the wall. Such pulses then roll off and create less of an impact.

By 2004, under the leadership of Uncle Walter, whom we sometimes call “the general,” the team had fully repaired the wall and closed in the pond. Over the next five years, we moved into improving the surrounding infrastruc­ ture, building small hale kiaʻi (guardian outposts), which also serve as places for community visitors to sit and ob­ serve the rhythms of the pond. Around this same time, Uncle Walter and the other kiaʻi became deeply involved in the strug gle against the patenting and ge ne tic modification of Hāloa, the kalo (taro) plant and the elder sibling of Kanaka. One of their biggest concerns was the potential privatization and corporate control of kalo, as well as the way this was tied to the growing presence of biotech corporations on their island. For the kiaʻi of Keawanui, the loko iʻa provides a living alternative to unsustainable, mono­ crop, cap i tal­ ist approaches to agriculture and food production that have implanted them­ selves in Hawaiʻi. These approaches deplete rather than enhance the natu­ ral resources of the islands.

One of the main purposes of a loko kuapā is to cultivate pua, or baby fish, to maturity. The kuapā protects an area of rich resources and keeps preda- tor attacks to a minimum. At Keawanui, the kiaʻi see the pond as a way to support restocking the fishing grounds along the entire coast, not just as a way to trap fish for their own consumption. It is about creating a safe space for growth and for replenishing the abundance of the island.

Aikau, Hokulani K., and Gonzalez, Vernadette Vicuña, eds. <i>Detours : A Decolonial Guide to Hawai'i</i>. Durham: Duke University Press, 2019. Accessed August 24, 2022. ProQuest Ebook Central. Created from uhm on 2022-08-24 09:26:40.

C op

yr ig

ht ©

2 01

9. D

uk e

U ni

ve rs

ity P

re ss

. A ll

rig ht

s re

se rv

ed .

RESTORING KEAWANUI FISHPOND 235

Unfortunately, in 2010 a tsunami generated by an earthquake in Chile blew a huge hole in the kuapā near one of the gates. Before the kiaʻi could finish repairing the wall, an­ other tsunami hit in March 2011, this time originating from a Japan earth­ quake. The kiaʻi remember it flatten­ ing the entire wall, except for a few small areas in which mangrove

roots held it together. Only one hale was left standing. This was a huge blow to the fishpond physically and to all of the work the kiaʻi had done at the pond over the years. But the kiaʻi whom Uncle Walt