Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 37, Number 12, 1 December 2020 — A Land District, A Land Division [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

A Land District, A Land Division

By Kalani Akana, Ph.D. We have heeome accustomed to the concept of the ahupua'a, a division of land stretching from mountain to sea. It has been demonstrated by Hawaiians to be a land management model for sustaining the lives of people dependant on the caring and nurturing of the land. Therefore, the ahupua'a becomes a system to provide for the people. Although that is true for the majority of ahupua'a, namely that it stretches from upland to the seashore, that is not true for all of them. For example, Makawao, Maui, is landlocked with no direct access to the sea. Then there are some ahupua'a in Lāhaina that have no direct access to the forest. Because of these exceptions, the eoncept of the "ahupua'a system" has been rethought by some learned native scholars. They believe that it would be better to use the term, "moku system."* According to those scholars, there are six aspects of the moku system: 1. Our ancestors partitioned and set aside lands as a means to fully utilize the resources from the uplands and unto the sea. They divided it thusly: moku, kalana, 'okana, ahupua'a, 'ili, mo'o, paukū, kīhāpai and cultivated plots called ka mahina'ai and māla. Widely known were the places that grew thatch, mulberry, sweet potatoes, taro, and so forth. 2. Various ecosystems were maintained within zones of the upland to the seaside. These zones extended across ahupua'a as from Hā'ena to Kalihiwai in the Moku of Halale'a, Kaua'i. The steward-manage-ment of ecosystems within ahupua'a that stretched from mountain to sea differed from zones that stretched across ahupua'a. Ahupua'a are oriented vertically; moku

are oriented horizontally. 3. The management of resource populations within moku are easier to control than within single ahupua'a. The "running" mullet of Pu'uloa is an example. These mullet live in the whole of Pu'uloa in the District of 'Ewa and not in a single ahupua'a. Therefore, a land manager could impose a restriction at the appropriate times within a whole district instead of an individual ahupua'a. 4. Placing restrictions is one tool for the protection of resources. For example, a kapu was placed on 'ōpelu fishing during the summer months because that is the spawning period. 5. Conservation periods are rotated as in the example of mackerel scad season rotating with the bonito season. The issuance of restrictions differ according to the life stages of resources such placing it only on little threadfish (5-8 centimeters) and not on other stages of the species. Restrictions were placed on resources if populations declined, as did lobster populations. 6. An evaluation is utilized for planning and rectification of problems within various ecosystems of the moku. A eouneil would decide on a system to conserve, restore, and increase production of resources of the land and sea. This is a traditional evaluation process from Moloka'i. These are the compelling and clear eoncepts of the moku system. Although they are explained by the group using western analytics, they relied on traditional knowledge of our ancestors. The article is readily accessible on line. *The Moku System: Managing Biocultural Resources for Abundance within Social-Ecological Regions in Hawai'i. (2018). Winter, K.B„ Beamer, K„ Vaughan, M.B„ Friedlander, A.M., Kido, M„ Whitehead, A. N„ Akutagawa, M. K. H„ Kurashima, N„ Lucas, M. P„ Nyberg, B. ■ Kalani Akana, Ph.D., is the culture specialist at OHA. He is a kumu ofhula, oli and 'ōlelo Hawai 'i. He has authored numerous articles on Indigenous ways ofknowing and doing.