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THE JOURNAL OF
MARINE EDUCATION
Volume 24 • Number 2 • 2008
HO‘OHANOHANO I N¯A K¯UPUNA PUWALU BY CHARLES K A‘AI‘AI AND SYLVIA SPALDING
THE WESTERN PACIFIC REGIONAL FISHERY MANAGEMENT Council hosted the Ho‘ohanohano I Na N¯ K¯upuna (Honor Our Ancestors) Puwalu (conference) series to engage Native Hawaiian communities in the development of the Fishery Ecosystem Plan for the Hawai‘i Archipelago. To facilitate the identification of traditional practitioners and practices and the organization of the conference series, the Council contracted Leimana DaMate, who had been involved with the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) workshops with Native Hawaiian communities to promote the concept of ahupua‘a management (natural resource management based on traditional geographic divisions that typically ran from reef to ridge).
The Puwalu series was implemented by the Council in partnership with the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs (under the presidency of Antoinette Lee) and received support from the OHA, Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate, the State of Hawai‘i through its various departments, the Hawaii Tourism Authority, and numerous community organizations and community projects throughout Hawai‘i. The Puwalu were professionally facilitated by Annelle Amaral, Pat Brandt, Kuumealoha Gomes, and Miki Lee with assistance from Liko Hoe and Kaoi Kaimikaua.
Puwalu participants included the Keale ‘ohana (family) of Ni‘ihau. On this privately owned island, traditional lawai‘a and mahi‘ai (fishing and farming) are practiced by kupuna ¯ (elder), makua (adult), and keiki (children) alike.
practitioners who continue traditional natural resources practices and maintain traditional lifestyles and relationships with the natural environment requested that traditional resource management be incorporated into contemporary resource management and that education play a major role in this effort. The often heard mana‘o (thought), “We want to teach our keiki (children) a practice, not a memory” became a motivation for the Puwalu. Kumu hula (hula teachers), cultural practitioners, and cultural consultants John Kaimikaua, Keli‘i Tau‘a, Kimokeo Kapulehua, and Frank Kawaikapuokalani Hewitt provided additional advice to the Council in the development of the Puwalu project. The goal of the series became to increase participation of the Hawaiian community in the conservation and management of Hawai‘i’s resources through the creation of a community and cultural consultation process within the contemporary educational and governance structures.
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The island of O‘ahu has six moku (traditional land districts), each consisting of several ahupua‘a (land divisions extending from the reefs to the uplands).
Puwalu ‘Ekahi (First Conference): No Na Laeula (Experts), August 15-17, 2006, in Honolulu, brought together more than 100 ahupua‘a practitioners from all of Hawai‘i’s populated islands as well as Kaho‘olawe. The participants discussed and proposed the development of ‘aha moku (district councils) that would manage natural resources for the Native Hawaiian tenants
¯ SPECIAL ISSUE FEATURING HO‘OHANOHANO I NA¯ KUPUNA PUWALU AND INTERNATIONAL PACIFIC MARINE EDUCATORS CONFERENCE
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