Once Upon a Fishpond
By Jennifer Bushman, Aquaculture North America Sept/Oct. 2022
K’ula was a fisherman of skill who is described as having powers for directing fish. Legend said that he was able to summon fish and ultimately was named the Hawaiian god of fishing.
Ancient Hawaiians were the first islanders in the Pacific to make use of ponds and fish farming. For thousands of years, Hawaiians developed aquaculture to supplement their other fishing activities. Fish ponds guaranteed food for the tribes and increased the wealth of the managing chief. Fish ponds provided fish without requiring fishing expertise and harvesting the pond, unlike fishing at sea, was not season nor weather-dependent.
Changing their main food source
Hawaiians built fish ponds were built on O’ahu, Lana’i, Maui and Kauai, with the highest concentration of ponds on Moloka`i. The rock-walled fish ponds took advantage of tidal flows on shallow reefs to capture fish. Subsequent loko kuap’ were also constructed on the shallow, nearshore reefs, but are much larger and innovative structures, ranging in size from an acre to more than 100 acres. Freshwater run-off from the irrigated agricultural terraces as well as natural streams and springs brought nutrients to the pond, which stimulated the growth of plankton and algae, creating a productive nursery for many species of fish.
Hawaiians stocked their fish ponds with awa (milkfish), ‘ama’ama and ‘anae (two kinds of mullet), ‘ahole (sea-pig), ‘opae (shrimp), ‘o’opu (guppies), and puhi (eels). Other sea fish entering the ponds were ulua , kahala (amberjack), kumu (goatfish), manini (surgeon fish), ‘o’io (bonefish), and uhu (parrotfish).
A dying practice
It is estimated that there were 488 fishponds across the Hawaiian islands prior to contact with westerners. In 1901 out of 360 fish ponds that remained only 99 of which were active. They produced nearly 750,000 pounds of fish. Fish ponds have dramatically disappeared due to development, changes in land use, especially the spread of invasive mangrove and sediment accumulation from lack of management. Luckily, over the course of the last decade, fish pond practitioners have been restoring this important part of Hawaiian culture. One such project, is the Nōmilu fish pond on Kauai.
Located on the southwest shore of the Garden Island- the Nōmilu fish pond is an extinct volcanic crater that filled with water. It is an 18 acre brackish water pond, fed by two auwai – channels that connect the pond to the ocean. Nōmilu is one of the oldest and one of the most fertile fish ponds in the State of Hawaii. It has pristine water and a rich supply of algae to provide perfect growing habitat for fish, limu (sea vegetables) and shellfish.
The Nōmilu Fishpond
The Nōmilu fish pond has been in the same Hawaiian family for over 100 years. According to the Kauai Sea Farm website, Hawaiian legend states that the Nōmilu fishpond was created when Pele, the Hawaiian Goddess of fire and creation first arrived on Kaua’i. Unable to find a suitable home on the island, she caused a small hill along the southern shore of the island to erupt. The eruption covered near- by Kalaheo with small black rocks and created a crater in the earth. The crater filled with sea water and became the Nōmilu Fish pond. Before leaving Kaua’i, Pele left two supernatural eels named Puhi-‘ula and Puhi’pakapaka, to guard the fish pond. The farm honors this myth by representing the eels in their logo.
Kauai Seafarm is a farm that pairs modern technology with traditional Hawaiian fishing methods. The team’s mission is to preserve this incredible sight while providing sustainable sea vegetables, shellfish and fin fish. They have one goal in mind; that the fish pond be a part of the contributive food system for the community and the surrounding islands.
Where preservation meets production
This is accomplished through the efforts of the Taylor family. Their continued investment in the preservation of the site and the employment of the team has been nothing short of remarkable. Lynn’s grandfather, Philip K. Palama Sr., acquired Nōmilu over 100 years ago. She, along with her husband Thayne have been able to intersect preservation and production on this historical site.
Their mission is to preserve the integrity, health and well-being of Nōmilu fish pond and surrounding coastline while developing sustainable production of shellfish and seafood products is nothing short of miraculous. The hiring of Dave Anderson as their production manager brought to the farm a sense of process and experimentation. Dave came with the expertise from having worked in sustainable aquaculture on the island. He understands the unique aspects of rearing blue foods from the egg all the way to harvest.
At present, there are numerous species in the fish pond. One of the most exciting prospects on the farm is the sea cucumber. Sea cucumbers are in high demand in Asian markets where they are considered a delicacy, health food and aphrodisiac, and this has led to wild sea cucumber stocks being overexploited. Dave decided after some initial research that this could be the crop that they have been waiting for. While in the early stage, the sea cucumber is thriving and will likely make a decent income for the farm.
Kauai Sea Farm is also the only producer of hard-shell clam Mercenaria mercenaria in Hawaii. Nōmilu fish pond was the first-ever certified shellfish grower in the state of Hawaii. Mercenaria mercenaria were introduced into the Nomilo fish pond in the early 1960’s as part of a project conducted by Anuenue Fisheries. This species of clam thrived in the Nōmilu fish pond.
Importing of seed clams into Hawaii is not allowed do having their own hatchery and nursery ensures an on-going and regular supply of clams for grow-out in Nōmilu fish pond. The Kauai Sea Farm hatchery and nursery are essential for its operation.
In the U.S., Hawaii is leading the way with its views on sustainable aquaculture and the role it will play as we set the table of the future of food. Hawaiians understand the need to adapt in order to fight the serious issues that face our ocean today. This new generation understands the enormous opportunity of linking the present and the future together. They are helping to reignite the innovative spirit that was embodied in K’ula’s first fishpond. It is the inspiration needed to plot a path to modern aquaculture in the state. A role that the rest of the U.S. can benefit from.
The Nōmilu Fishpond located on the southern shoreline Kauai, Hawaii.
Can An Ancient Hawaiian Fishpond Turn A Profit?
By Brittany Lyte, CIVIL BEAT June 9, 2022
The owners of a recently restored Kauai
fishpond are setting out to prove that this
cultural resource can also be a money-maker.
Nōmilu Fishpond on Kauai’s south shore has been stewarded by generations of the same Hawaiian family since Philip Palama purchased it more than a century ago.
Naturally formed when a dormant volcanic caldera filled up with water, the pond has seen several iterations since Palama fished its brackish waters at a time when a meal of ulua, mullet or oysters could be gathered in minutes.
In 1989, Palama’s granddaughter Lynn Maile Taylor and her husband Thayne say they secured the first state license to grow shellfish in Hawaii and began to convert the fishpond into what they hoped could be a viable business. In its first version, Kauai Sea Farm harvested and sold shellfish to local chefs.
But the couple’s novel business ambitions soon collapsed. In 1992, Hurricane Iniki’s 145-mile-per-hour winds inundated the 60-acre property with debris, clogging critical seawater channels that attract fish into the pond, circulate the water and help keep the ecosystem clean.
For over 20 years the pond was stagnant. Choked by poor water quality and invasive mangrove, the health of the once-pristine aquaculture system deteriorated into a sludge that could support very little marine life until a new generation of Nōmilu heirs cleared rocks and logs from its channels, slowly bringing the fishpond back to life.
Now the Taylors are pushing to be among the first to prove that an ancient Hawaiian aquaculture system can turn a profit in modern markets, a mission that’s giving their shellfish business a second act of reinvention.
The privately owned Nōmilu Fishpond stood stagnant for decades following the devastation of Hurricane Iniki in 1992. But in recent years the family that stewards the fishpond has brought it back to good health as part of a unique plan to morph the cultural resource into a profitable seafood business.
“Most Hawaiian fishponds are nonprofits that are pretty much living off of grants. And we’re a commercial business,” said Lynn Maile Taylor, who, with her husband Thayne, is resurrecting the Kauai Sea Farm brand name to sell oysters and clams to chefs and consumers.
“It’s kind of a big responsibility, owning a Hawaiian fishpond — and it’s expensive,” she explained. “We want to pass this on to the next generation and the next generation but it gets harder and harder as more people get involved. My vision has always been to find a way so that it can support itself financially.”
It’s an unusual direction for the stewards of a Hawaiian fishpond to take.
Grant money is the dominant funding source for most of the dozens of active fishpond restoration projects underway across the state. Many of these projects are powered by volunteers who’ve established a nonprofit to facilitate the grant-writing process.
But this episodic revenue model poses disadvantages to the longevity of fishpond preservation projects, said Brenda Asuncion, who coordinates a network of more than 50 fishpond restoration projects, including Nōmilu Fishpond, through the Oahu-based nonprofit Kuaaina Ulu Auamo.
A burst of grant money can be critical to jumpstart a fishpond restoration project, but it can be difficult to secure dedicated, longterm workers when an organization relies on a revenue stream with a ticking expiration date. Grant management can also be burdensome for small organizations.
“I think folks sometimes seriously wonder whether the nonprofit model is a longterm option for fishponds,” Asuncion said. “I think a lot of this generation and the younger generation would like to make a livelihood doing fishpond work and want to see opportunities or pathways for them to be able to do that. This commercial venture (at Nomilo) is an example of people trying something new.”
Dave Anderson, KSF Science Officer with a sea cucumber that will be propagated in the farm's hatchery.
GRANT RECIPIENTS WANT TO RESTORE KAUA'I, MAUKA TO MAKAI
By Scott Yunker, The Garden Island May 29 2022
KALAHEO - Two South Shore groups are using recently acquired Kaua'i County Innovation Grants to restore the island, both mauka and makai.
The commercial Kaua'i Sea Farm, which tends the historic Nōmilu Fishpond, is promoting aquaculture rooted in Native Hawaiian tradition and contemporary science.
Farther inland, the nonprofit National Tropical Botanical Garden is becoming the first entity on Kaua'i to propagate native fern species from spores.
Mike DeMotta, a NTBG horticulturalist, radiated enthusiasm during a recent tour of the Kalaheo headquarters.
"Typically, people would grown ferns from clonal reproduction, which is taking rhizome cuttings, for example, and just replanting from that - taking divisions, basically," DeMotta explained.
"There are no other nurseries here growing ferns from spores, particularly for the conservation of the native species, some the rarer ones," he continued. "We're the first, and we have to develop the protocols, because no two fern species grow exactly the same."
Ferns play an important role in watersheds by absorbing water and thereby mitigating runoff.
Native ferns now growing at NTBG include palapalai (Microlepia strigosa), hapu'u (Cobotium glaucum) and 'ama'u (Sadleria cyathioides), among many others.
NTBG's top priority is propagation: Partners include the state Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of Forestry and Wildlife will outplant NTBG's native ferns throughout Kaua'i.
The fern specialists have other goals, as well. DeMotta hopes to boost the availability and popularity of native ferns among Kaua'i landscapers, homeowners and gardeners.
Doing so could steer buyers away from non-native species that have proven to be invasive. "The Australian tree fern in the watersheds around the North Shore is a classic example," DeMotta said. "They are dominating areas of the wet forest back in Hanalei and Wainiha." The fern-spore project also boasts a "long-shot" goal. NTBG's $50,000 Innovation Grant will, in part, allow experts to collect spores from decades-old fern specimens held in the center's herbarium. If the experiment's spores prove viable, NTBG could potentially revive Kauai'i fern populations extinct in the wild.
KAUA'I SEA FARM
Less than two miles from the NTBG’s sprawling South Shore headquarters, a much smaller — but no less ambitious — operation is underway.
Kaua‘i Sea Farm’s Nōmilu Fishpond is stewarded by Lynn Maile Taylor, husband Thayne Taylor and a small team of employees and partners including Production Manager Dave Anderson.
The farmers’ bywords are “restorative aquaculture,” a term for methods directly benefiting the natural ecosystem around them.
They believe they can help build a better future for Kaua‘i by looking back to time-honored Hawaiian practices.
“We have fish, we’ve got clams and oysters, we’ve got seaweed. We’ve got all these things that naturally occur in the pond,” Thayne Taylor, a lifelong entrepreneur, said.
“To maintain that balance not only helps the pond thrive, but also the fisheries around the coast survive — which in turn helps out other animals as well as the economy of our own island and food security.”
The Taylors’ 18-acre, 25-foot-deep fishpond fills the center of an ancient cinder cone located on the makai side of Kaua‘i Coffee Company’s Kalaheo estate.
Lynn Taylor’s grandfather, Native Hawaiian Philip K. Palama Sr., acquired the property more than 100 years ago when he purchased it from his employer Walter McBride.
Kaua‘i Sea Farm has now spent years restoring the pond’s native ecosystem and traditional infrastructure, while investing in contemporary technology.
Anderson manages a 100% solar-powered facility near the pond’s edge that houses a complex water-filtration system used to cultivate hard clams (Mercenaria mercenaria, raised nowhere else in Hawai‘i), and three varieties of oysters from seed.
A nearby tub contained the remains of a recent limu (seaweed) harvest during a recent visit. And several feet beyond, another open-air tank contained at least two species of sea cucumber, high-demand delicacies with reputations as living water-filtration systems.
Kaua‘i Sea Farm’s $49,213 Innovation Grant, which it earned through a partnership with conservation nonprofit Ho‘omalu Ke Kai, will promote these projects and others.
The Taylors believe the Nōmilu Fishpond can become a blueprint for other Hawai‘i growers.
“Moving forward, it can be a real tool bringing a lot of positive things to the island of Kaua‘i besides tourism,” Lynn Taylor said.
“We want to continue to really be part of the community and do the best we can to bring good food and good-paying jobs.”
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Dave Anderson, Science Officer & Production Manager helps harvest clams from Nomilo Fishpond.