Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 40, Number 8, 1 August 2023 — Moananuiākea: We are the Vast Pacific Ocean [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Moananuiākea: We are the Vast Pacific Ocean

V MO'OLELO NUI V ^ COVER STORY *

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Creation Unfolds There are two major wahi pana (legendary, living, pulsating plaee) where it is said, our Kumulipo, our chant of creation, eome into being and where the process of creation continues. These sacred places as entry ways into Pō (primordial darkness and/or the potential of all things yet created) frame nā kūkulu (pillars) of our cosmogenic origins and are where the physical world of both time and space continues to unfold. These wahi pana are Mauna Kea and Papahānaumokuākea — reaching up into the highest heavens down into deepest part of the sea, forming the upper and lateral construction of our realms. The sun, moon, stars and constellations help to set the north, south, east and western kūkulu, thus eompleting the ancient models of our universe. According to Native Hawaiian scholar Rubellite Kawena Johnson, in the first wā (epoeh) of Kumulipo, emerging from the primordial Pō is born the 'ukuko'ako'a (coral polyp) and then the 'ako'ako'a (coral colony). Like the tiny coral polyps that form the coral head and then the papa (reef), protection for the great Moananuiākea comes from our ancient origins and traditional oeean legacy. Moananuiākea, our traditional oeean realm, is deep and expansive. A myriad of Indigenous peoples, including Na-

tive Hawaiians, are connected genealogically through our eommon voyaging heritage and a eommon cosmology via our oral histories and creation stories. The oeean not only connects the Indigenous peoples of Moananuiākea to one another, but to all of humanity. Protecting Our Oceans For millennia, Native Hawaiians have been leaders in natural and cultural marine resource management. We are stewards of the ecosystem in whieh we live and custodians of traditional knowledge and practices for the protection of the marine environment, conservation, and for the sustainable uses of the oeean and its many life forms. The more we protect the oeean, the more we heeome connected and together begin to heal ourselves and our planet. Wherever our traditional and customary practices take us, from ma uka (upland) to ma kai (seaward), as the late Pacific scholar Dr. 'Epeli Hau'ofa wrote, "We are the Oeean." According to Dr. Christina Thompson, author of the award-winning nonfiction book, Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia, "If you were to look at the Pacific Oeean from space you would not be able to see both sides of it at the same time taken as a whole, it is so big that you could fit all of the landmass of earth inside it and there would still be room for another continent as large as North and South

America combined. It is not simply the largest body of water on the planet - it is the largest single feature." The west dismissively refers to Paeihe Islands as "tiny island nations," but we are better defined as the big oeean nations of Moananuiākea. Our moana (oeean) produces 50-70% of the atmosphere and air we breathe, helps regulate the temperature of the earth, and supports most of the biodiversity of our planet. For centuries, eolonial powers have attempted the carve up the Pacific Oeean to exploit its resources and supplant our peoples and cultures with their own. But the people of Moananuiākea have survived and we remain connected, not divided, by the oeean or the artifieial lines drawn on the colonizer's maps. With eommon purpose, the Indigenous peoples of Moananuiākea continue to work to restore aina momona (heahh and abundance of the land and oceans). As the effects of climate change heeome increasingly apparent, the western world is pausing to rethink some of its old paradigms and unsustainable ways of living, as well as its treatment over the centuries of the world's Indigenous peoples. Western science is working to acknowledge Indigenous approaches to resource management and stewardship. Today, many more people are striving to live more responsibly and to better mālama (nurture and care for) our oceans and planet.

United Nations' Decade of the Oeean Ihe United Nations (UN) proclaimed 2021-2030 the "Decade of the Oeean, Science and Sustainable Development," to support efforts to reverse the cycle of decline in oeean heahh. The UN General Assembly tasked the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and its subdivisions to organize and gather the global oeean community to plan for the next 10 years. The Ofhce of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) recognizes this as an opportunity for the lāhui to participate in these global conversations for greater protection of our entire oeean. OHA's vision for the Oeean Decade seeks to eomhine scienee and Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge (ITEK) to determine the the best path forward for protecting our oceans. OHA's Kuleana and Mandate Native Hawaiians never relinquished our right to self-de-termination despite the U.S.'s involvement in the illegal overthrow of Queen Lili'uokalani in 1893 and the dismantling of our government. Many Hawaiians today are still adversely impacted by the trauma of this event and the subsequent erosion of our language, cuture, identity, and loss of our land.

Created to "better the conditions of Native Hawaiians" through a Hawai'i State constitutional amendment in 1978, OHA is a quasi-autonomous state agency - an expression of the unique trust relationship established between Native Hawaiians, the United States, and the State of Hawai'i via the 1959 Admissions Act. Guided by a board of nine publicly elected trustees, OHA fulfills its mandate through advocacy, research, eommunity engagement, land management and by providing loans, grants and partnerships. To meet the U.S.'s obligations to Native Hawaiians as articulated in the Admissions Act, and in acknowledgement of its special political and trust relationship with Hawai'i's Indigenous people, Congress has enacted over 150 federal laws to promote education, heahh, housing, and a variety of other federal programs that support Native Hawaiian self-determination including the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act of 1920 as amended, the Native Hawaiian Education Act; the Native Hawaiian Heahh Care Improvement Act; and the Hawaiian Homelands Homeownership Act (codified in the Native American Housing Assistance and Self Determination Act). Additionally, the State of Hawai'i recognizes OHA as the principal puhlie agency responsible for the performance, development, and coordination of programs and activities affecting Native Hawaiians.

Developing OHA's Oeean Policy OHA also has a kuleana to advise and inform federal officials about Native Hawaiian programs and to coordinate activities impacting Native Hawaiians. Thus, OHA's sphere of advocacy includes international, federal, state and eounty governments as it relates to protecting Native Hawaiians' traditional and customary practices and associated rights ffom the near shore to the high seas. This includes everything from protecting traditional aquaculture to advocating for protections against highly extractive activities such as the commercial aquarium fish trade, excessive tourism, industrial commercial fishing, and deep-sea mining. To fulfill this mandate, OHA is developing an "oeean policy" that reflects Hawaiian and Oeeanie cultural values and traditions to meet and/or exceed global standards of practice. Last fall, OHA's oeean team, comprised of staff from its advocacy, communications, community engagement, research, and puhlie policy divisions, as well as administrators and trustees, invited the community to help inform the creation of OHA's oeean policy via nine in-person oeean policy development meetings hosted accross the pae SEE M0ANANUIĀKEA 0N PAGE 18

MOANANUIĀKEA Continued from page 17 aina, as well as a virtual meeting option. These gatherings brought together Native Hawaiian practitioners, fishers, divers and general oeean users, along with those members of our communities that have a long history of working to steward our marine ecosystems. In all, several hundred Kānaka attended the meetings. Working together we uncovered opportunities and built upon our collective strength to understand and address the ongoing challenges by incorpo_rating 'ike (knowledge and intelligence) of Kānaka 'Oiwi using intergenerational knowledge to inform OHA's Oeean Policy (still under development). It was an honor to have the opportunity to connect with the long time kia'i (protectors) of our oeean realms who have been working for generations to protect our Moananuiākea. Co-managing Papahānaumokuākea More than two decades ago, Native Hawaiian eommercial fishermen, Unele Louis "Buzzy" Agard, Jr. and Unele Isaac "Paka" Harp, Jr. made the original eall for greater oeean protections. They recognized that excessive commercial taking was causing the decline of fish species and other marine life including threatened honu (sea turtles) and endangered noholoikauaua (Hawaiian monk seals) in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI), now known as Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument (PMNM). Agard and Harp helped to inspire the creation of a coalition of Native Hawaiian practitioners and activists, scientists, politicians, environmentalists, environmental lawyers, regulatory agencies, and the general puhlie toward the unifying goal of protecting this most sacred and fragile ecosystem. In addition to Agard and Harp, core members of the coalition included Victoria Holt-Takamine, Stephanie Fried, Cha Smith, and Dave Raney, collectively known as "Ihe NWHI Hui." See: https://nwhihui.files.word-press.com/2021/06/whos-the-hui-nwhi.pdf In 2000 and 2001, President Bill Clinton signed Executive Orders no. 13178 and 13196, respectively, establishing the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve. And in 2006, President George W. Bush established the PMNM via Proclamation no. 8031. The establishment of PMNM was no small feat. It required many hands working together toward the single goal of creating the 583,000 square mile marine protection area. In 2016, another coalition was formed. It included the people who had worked on the year 2000 designation with the addition of more cultural practitioners. This, to assist President Ohama in expanding protections of PMNM by issuing Proclamation no. 9478 whieh added another level of protection to the area by creating a buffer zone around PMNM that stretched out into the U.S.

Exclusive Eeonomie Zone (EEZ). Proclamation no. 9478 also elevated OHA as a co-trustee of PMNM along with the National Oeeanie and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), U.S. Fish and Wildlife (USFW) and the State of Hawai'i Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR). OHA works collaboratively with its co-managers and the Cultural Working Group (CWG) to eomhine the best scientific and cultural practices. Comprised of Kānaka Maoli subject matter experts, the CWG was established to advise and assist in maintaining the history and historical context of Papahānaumokuākea's origin and to seek maximum pro- ■ tections for its fragile and delicate ecosystems. Sanctuary Designation Despite attempts to maximize protections for our ; oceans, including Papahānaumokuākea, globally, only 3% to 5% of our oceans are protected. In fact, 95% of our oceans are subject to significant destructive extractive practices, from the near shore, the EEZ and into the high seas. Such activities include, but are not limited to, eommercial extraction of our loeal reef fish for the pet trade, Industrial Commercial Fishing, IUU (illegal, unreported and unregulated) fishing practices and deep-sea mining that could soon begin near Hawai'i (see related story ; on page 11). Fortunately, President Joe Biden and his administration are endeavoring to protect 30% of the oceans by 2030. This aligns with the international goals of the United Nations. Part of this effort by the Biden administration is to elevate both Papahānaumokuākea and the Pacific Remote Islands (PRI) to move from monument status to sanctuary status (see related story on page 13). While monument status provides some protections for Papahānaumokuākea, it remains vulnerable if a rogue president less sensitive to Indigenous and environmental concerns were to be elected, as they could overturn the current monument status of Papahānaumokuākea via executive order. Sanctuary status, on the other hand, requires an act of Congress and cannot be overturned so easily. OHA, along with our federal and state co-managers and the CWG, will continue to advocate for maximum protections for Papahānaumokuākea. NOAA and the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries (NOAA-ONMS) • is responsible to oversee the sanctuary designation pro- : cess. More information will be forthcoming about the sanctuary designation process, Papahānaumokuākea's sacredness, and Moananuiākea's myriad delicate and fragile lifeforms and environs, and the work to protect them, in future issues of Ka Wai Ola. ■ The author wishes to mahalo her colleagues from OHA's puUie policy, community engagement and eomplianee ■ and enforcement paia ( divisions ): Shane 'Akoni" Pala-cat-Nelson, Kamaile Puluole-Mitchell, Miehele McCoy, and Kamakana Ferreira for their significant contributions to this article.

An 'īlioholoikūuūuū (Howoiion monk seal) ond honu (green seo turtle) snuggle together os they rest on o heoeh in Popohōnoumokuōkeo Morine Nohonol Monument. - Photo: Mark Sullivan, NOAA Fisheries Hawaiian Monk Seal Research Program

Mosked boobies, red-footed boobies (both colled 'ō in Howoiion) ond frigote birds ('iwo) rest on on orchoeologicol site on Mokumonomano (olso colled Necker lslond). Popohōnoumokuōkeo provides criticol nesting and foroging grounds for 14 million seobirds ond is the world's lorgest tropicol seobird rookery. - Photo: Kekuewa Kikiloi

Popohōnoumokuōkeo Morine Nohonol Monument provides refuge for endongered species like this honu (Howoiion green seo turtle) swimming neor Peorl ond Hermes Atolls. Sonctuory designotion would odd onother loyer of protection for this pristine ecosystem ond its inhobitonts. - Photo: John Burns, NOAA