Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 14, Number 9, 1 Kepakemapa 1997 — Moloka ʻi: Welfare haven or tropical paradise? [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Moloka ʻi: Welfare haven or tropical paradise?

In this continuing issue, we resume with the loko kuapā, a neeklaee of ancient fishpond walls, on Moloka'i's south shore. These walls, some built nearly a thousand years ago, have survived over a century of neglect. In 1778, before Western contact, the fishponds fed a Moloka'i populahon estimated at 36,000. The ponds are a monument to the engineering genius of our ancestors and their sophisticated knowledge of island ecosystems, found nowhere else in the world. The productivity of these fishponds depended on a multitude of factors: Many hands were needed to build and repair the walls; careful stewardship of the mauka lands was required to keep feeder springs flowing and to limit the runoff of silt and debris; and strict enforcement of the kapu system by the konohiki sustained the fish yields. Despite their great importance to the economy, by the late 1800s most of the ponds had fallen victim to the changing land ownership patterns of the Māhele, the disintegration of the communities that had tended them, and the environmental pressures of polluhon and development along Hawai'i shores. Today on Moloka'i, fishponds are becoming the focus of community-based efforts to create a self-sustaining economy. After years of negotiation with various state and federal permit-

ting agencies, Moloka'i families on the island's east end finally received permission to begin the process of rebuilding an ancient fishpond at Honouliwai Bay. Dozens of Hawaiians, from 'ōpio to kūpuna, eome eaeh day to reset the stones in the broken wall with their own hands. Nearly a third of the wall is eompleted, and the pride of every Hawaiian working to restore it has grown immeasurably. These po'e Hawai'i have joined in spirit with our ancestors to restore a cultural treasure and to create a new means of sustenance on an island where families do not need mueh to survive. The previous issue's tale and this one illustrate two historic approaches to eeonomie development on Moloka'i. The sandalwood trade was the brainchild of foreigners, embraced by Hawaiian chiefs who failed to foresee its eeonomie and social consequences. It was carried out obediently by commoners until their families starved and they resorted to destroying the forests. In just 20 years, it made debtors out of our ali'i, and wealthy men out of the foreign traders. On the other hand, the fishponds were built and tended by ka po'e Hawai'i, and supported untold generations of Hawaiians for a thousand years, until the foreigners arrived. Here on Moloka'i, we are heirs to the spirits of those

maka'āinana who, in defense of their families, rose up against the shortsighted chiefs and the foreign opportunists by uprooting the fragrant 'iliahi. But we are also heirs to the spirit of those great builders of fishponds, whose works sustained one of the healthiest and most peaeeable civilizations ever known on this earth. Here on Moloka'i, we are trying hard to preserve our island's options by fighting the land speculation schemes of a $9 hillion New ZeaIand-owned corporation (Moloka'i Ranch). At the same time, we are also working hard to create eeonomie alternatives that are rooted in our Hawaiian values and culture. For us, success will be a future in whieh the welfare of our Hawaiian families is secured by the principle that gives life to our land: Ua mau ke ea o ka 'āina i ka pono. We need eeonomie development, but it must be pono, or it will destroy our islands and our people, leaving us only with empty pockets and sad memories of forests that our mo'opuna will never see.

C9tctte MmAaA9 Trustee, Moloka'i & Lāna'i