Published May 21, 2026 03:04AM<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cThe fishpond\u2019s fine,\u201d Hi\u2018ilei Kawelo<\/a> says, just two days after back-to-back Kona low storms hit Hawai\u2018i in March, causing devastating flooding on the North Shore of O\u2018ahu and destruction throughout the islands. Kawelo is the executive director for Paepae o He\u2018eia<\/a>, a nonprofit dedicated to restoring a more than 600-year-old Native Hawaiian fishpond on the windward side of O\u2018ahu.<\/p>\n \u201cThe most recent flood event and our ability to be resilient and say, \u2018Oh, the fishpond is fine,\u2019 speaks to everybody\u2019s work in the ahupua\u2018a,\u201d which is a traditional Hawaiian land division stretching from the mountains to the sea, she says. \u201cWe always like to say that the health of the fishpond is a direct reflection of the health of the entire system.\u201d<\/p>\n It has taken 26 years to get to this current level of health. And many of the organizations working to restore Native Hawaiian ecosystems and foodways will say there\u2019s still a long way to go, in islands where food security feels precarious: 90 percent of the food supply is imported.<\/p>\n Though Kawelo grew up in the neighborhood, she had no idea He\u2018eia fishpond was just down the road. She first heard about it in 1998, as a student in Hawaiian studies at the University of Hawai\u2018i Manoa. At one time, almost every ahupua\u2018a had a coastal fishpond, relying on the tides and meeting of fresh water with ocean water to cultivate fish, a food source when ocean conditions precluded fishing. By one estimate, there were more than 480 fishponds prior to western contact, producing more than two million pounds of fish annually\u2014He\u2018eia\u2019s 88-acre fishpond was once capable of raising hundreds of thousands of pounds of fish. But by the time Kawelo first saw it, its walls had been destroyed by invasive mangrove, past storms, and neglect.<\/p>\n She and a small group formed Paepae o He\u2018eia in 2001, and in the years since, the organization has mobilized thousands of volunteers to completely remove the mangrove. Just last December, they finished restoring the 1.3-mile enclosure using a method of Hawaiian rock wall\u2013building that eschews mortar.<\/p>\n In the two decades since Paepae o He\u2018eia started, where there was once invasive tilapia and seaweed, Kawelo sees more \u2018ama\u2018ama (Hawaiian mullet) and awa (milkfish), which slip in through the makaha (sluice gates) when they\u2019re young. In addition, \u201ca lot of species will spend a little bit of time in the pond when they\u2019re small\u2014like going to preschool\u2014and then the rest of their life in the larger Kane\u2018ohe Bay area,\u201d Kawelo says. \u201cAnd because there\u2019s no mangrove and no sediment accumulation, you\u2019ve got a cleaner reef outside.\u201d<\/p>\n In other words, the benefits lie on both sides of the wall. \u201cI come from a fishing family, and fishing is pretty extractive\u2014it\u2019s kind of hard to give back to the ocean. It\u2019s not like if you\u2019re a terrestrial person, you can plant trees,\u201d Kawelo says. \u201cSo the idea that we can restore a place of traditional Hawaiian aquaculture and actually feed the community is really appealing to me.\u201d<\/p>\n Unlike the He\u2018eia fishpond, which had been overgrown and hidden from the community, coconut palms help define the islands\u2019 landscape. Except something has been missing from the picture. For four decades, Hawaiian educator Manulani Aluli Meyer<\/a> would look at the palms and wonder why they had no coconuts.<\/p>\n \u201cNiu [Hawaiian for coconuts] are one of the most important food resources throughout the Pacific Ocean,\u201d she says. When the first Polynesians voyaged in their double-hulled canoes to the Hawaiian Islands about a thousand years ago, they brought with them a toolkit and pantry of plants that would supply the medicine, building material, and food that they would need in the isolated archipelago. Among the 23 canoe plants was niu. \u201cWe will not starve if we have coconuts in our coconut trees,\u201d Meyer says. But in the modern era, the palms are trimmed before they can bear fruit for fear of falling coconuts. Niu went from a \u201ctree of life to ornamental liability,\u201d Meyer says.<\/p>\n Then, eight years ago, Meyer met Indrajit Gunasekara<\/a>, who came to O\u2018ahu from southern Sri Lanka. In Sri Lanka, coconuts were part of his daily life\u2014he dreamed of coconuts, he ate them daily. He taught her everything about them: that when planting on the arid leeward side of O\u2018ahu, you could use their husks as mulch, for they could hold water for months; that the particular variety of palm one Hawaiian wanted to cut down\u2014because it didn\u2019t produce coconuts with meat and water\u2014could be used as fiber to make coconut rope, thanks to its elongated husks.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are all niunates<\/em>!\u201d Meyer cries out, a pun on neonates. Gunasekara helped open her eyes to all the varieties of Hawaiian niu, including niu hiwa, with a black shell used in ceremonies; and umeke poi niu, its flat-bottomed shells ideal for holding single servings of poi (pounded taro thinned with water). Together, Gunasekara and Meyer started Niu Now!<\/a> for coconut and cultural revitalization and have since planted nearly 30 groves throughout the islands.<\/p>\n![\"Wooden](\"https:\/\/cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/hawaii-sustainability-fishpond-gate.jpg?width=3840&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\"\/)
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