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Fishponds |
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The fishponds were very important to the ancient Hawaiians because they provided a major source of food for them. Since Molokai residents are more independent and have to get their own food (partially because there are no big markets, restaurants or stores), it is also very important to them now. The fishponds were like "gardens in the ocean", according to Mr. Walter Ritte, a Molokai resident, and project coordinator for the fishpond restoration, Loko I'a.
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The fishponds were built by the ancient Hawaiians in places where freshwater was available, because freshwater makes limu. Therefore, they only raised fish that ate limu, and could live in both saltwater and freshwater. Limu was important because that's what the fish ate and because limu produced oxygen in the water during the day which was necessary for fish to live. Since the old Hawaiians liked to do things with the least maintenance possible, they relied on the tides to clean out the waste produced by the fish twice a day.
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In old Hawaii the royalty had to approve to build a fishpond because they were the only people with the power to call everyone to come and help. Archeologists believe that the rocks found at theKahinapohaku fishpond came from the other side of the island, up and over the mountain ridge. They formed a human chain to pass rocks to the site of the fishpond. Instead of having a side-by-side line, they formed a zig-zag line to pass rocks. It was also believed that some of the fishponds were made by the Menehunes (Menehunes were believed to be little men who were able to build an entire fishpond overnight).
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Today, the people who are restoring the fishponds are learning about the methods the old Hawaiians used to build the walls. One method is to build the walls at a slant, because if it's straight up, the waves would hit the wall with force and knocked the rocks out of place. The base of the wall would be about 20 ft. wide and gradually come to about 5 ft. at the top. This was because when the waves hit the rocks, the waves would lose it's power as it climbed up the rock wall. Another method was to be sure that every rock touches two rocks beneath it. The rocks come from right there, because the people who restore the fishponds dig up all the rocks that have been burried under sand, coral, dirt. Hawaiians made lines going across the island to take rocks to make the walls. |
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The ranges of size in fishponds are from 1/4 of an acre to 200 acres, but the average size is 20 acres. The wall is about 2,000 ft if the size of the fishpond is 4 acres. It would take about 2 and 3/4 yrs. to 3 yrs. to build a fishpond. But that's only if the fishpond was 4 acres large, was worked on everyday, and had about three feet done everyday.
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There are five different types of fishponds, one of them being Loko I'a Kalo, a pond that grows both taro and fish. There is also Loko Wai, which are freshwater ponds, Loko Pu'uone, which is a pond near the shore of a beach, Loko Kuapa which is a long rock wall built into the ocean, and finally Loko Umeiki, which are fish traps with outgoing or incoming lanes aligned with the movement of the high and low tide.
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In the beginning of the restoration project, few people came to help. Gradually the people noticed the fishpond being restored and started to help out in restoring the fishponds. Senator Daniel Inouye heard about this project, and decided to support them by helping them obtain federal funding. As word spread around the community and state, other groups such as, the Hawaiian Club at O'ahu's Waipahu High School. More than 30 students came to Molokai to help rebuild the walls of the pond. |
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