– Loko Iʻa –
Loko i‘a, Hawaiian fishponds, are unique aquaculture systems that exist throughout Hawai‘i and continue to feed and connect communities around the islands. The Hui Mālama Loko Iʻa Association is a growing network of fishpond practitioners and organizations from across the Hawaiian archipelago. The group was formed as an opportunity for practitioners to empower each other and leverage their skills, knowledge, and resources related to the restoration and management of traditional Hawaiian fishponds.
Loko i‘a are important components of the ahupua‘a (traditional land stewardship framework) that contribute to a healthy and robust food system. They are unique aquaculture systems that exist throughout Hawai‘i and were developed to optimize natural patterns of watersheds, nutrient cycles, and fish biology. There are six general types of loko i‘a.
This is the desirable ʻamaʻama (striped mullet). The ʻamaʻama is one of the fish we WANT to raise in a Loko iʻa. This fish was historically raised in our 400 year-old fishpond for the monarchs. Their spawning season is right around the corner! Soon we will be able to see ʻamaʻama swimming up the stream and into Middle Pond. After we are finished restoring the pond, we hope to have many many many ʻamaʻama happily thriving in this Loko iʻa.
488 fishpond sites were identified in the last statewide survey (DHM 1990). Among these 488 loko i‘a sites, many are in degraded conditions, sometimes completely beyond repair or unrecognizable as fishponds. However, for the sites that are partially intact, there are communities and stewardship groups who actively restore or have expressed interest in reviving the integrity and productivity of these places.
Today, Hawai’i’s communities are coming together. They are working to reclaim their role as stewards of their places, advancing just solutions to Hawai‘i’s most difficult environmental and social problems. They are joined in this work by others who are researchers, teachers, businesses, artists, resource managers, decision-makers and individuals in Hawai‘i and around the world.
kaiusrootz 