The Hawaiian people practiced aquaculture through development of fishponds (Hawaiian: loko iʻa), the most advanced husbandry of fishes among the original peoples of the Pacific. These fishponds were typically shallow areas of a reef flat surrounded by a low rock wall (loko kuapa) built out from the shore. Several species of edible fish (such as mullet) thrive in such ponds, and Hawaiians developed methods to make them easy to catch. The Hawaiian fishpond was primarily a grazing area in which the fishpond keeper cultivated algae for this fish; much in the way a cattle rancher cultivates grass for his cattle.[1] The rock walls, being somewhat porous, let in seawater (or sometimes fresh or brackish water, as in the case of the "Menehune" fishpond near Līhuʻe, Kauaʻi), but prevent the fish from escaping. As fishponds were located next to the mouth of a scram, by opening a sluice gate a pondkeeper took advantage of the highly nutritious water that had passed through the inland terraced pondfields and been returned to the stream.[1]
Several fishponds have been restored in recent years. Although fishponds were developed on most of the islands, the largest concentrations were found in Keʻehi Lagoon, Pearl Harbor, and Kāneʻohe Bay on Oʻahu, and along nearly the entire south shore of the Island of Molokaʻi. Few of these structures remain today, although Molokaʻi offers the best opportunities to view a Hawaiian loko. Three different styles of fish ponds are being reconstructed at the Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park on the Big Island of Hawaiʻi.
See also
Notes
References
- Kamakau, Samuel M. (1992), The Works of the People of Old, Honolulu, HI: Bishop Museum Press, ISBN 0910240183.
- James, Van (2001), Ancient Sites of Maui, Molokai'i and Lana'i, Honolulu, HI: Mutual Publishing, pp. 73–76, ISBN 1566475295.
- Kamahele, Momi (2008), Hawaiʻi: Center of the Pacifc, University of Hawaiʻi Leeward Community College: XanEdu Custom Publishing, pp. 234-235.
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