Worldwide Voyage | Paʻaiau Loko Iʻa – Puʻuloa, Oʻahu

Posted on 9 May 2018
In Newsletter, Teachers, Video Stories

Kehaulani Lum, a lineal descendant of the Puʻuloa area, explained, “For our ʻohana this has really been a profound, profound moment because we didn’t expect it. We’re so grateful for Hōkūleʻa coming and we really hope they will come again and that this will just be the beginning of voyaging canoes returning to Puʻuloa.”

As Hōkūleʻa makes her way around the state of Hawaiʻi to mahalo those who supported the Worldwide Voyage, we are starting to see that our communities have been hard at work creating inspirational opportunities to mālama honua.

Master navigator and President of the Polynesian Voyaging Society Nainoa Thompson said, “Aloha this is Nainoa Thompson onboard the voyaging canoe Hōkūleʻa just rounding Ford Island. Weʻre here from the permission of community and the permission of the U.S. Navy we are very grateful and and we are here to hopefully pay respect to this very special place to honor the community that is trying to restore fishponds and the environment.“

Cultural Resource Manager for the U.S. Navy Jeff Pantaleo said, “Today we’re at Loko Paaiau which is at McGrew point on the Navy base and we are in the middle of the restoration of this fish pond which dates back about 400 years ago. When I saw this project I consulted with Shad Kane and I told them this is a chance for a fish pond to be exposed and we need to protect it and restore it.”

Cultural practitioner Shad Kane explained, “That’s how this Paaiau Fishpond restoration project got started and that it was an effort to not just restore an ancient Hawaiian fish farm, but it was an effort to establish a closer relationship between not just the military but the military families and the surrounding civilian communities and working in partnership in the restoration of a fish pond.“

Kehaulani Lum noted, “Coming in here to do the work it was very clear to us that it’s more than simple fishpond restoration to feed ourselves that the story is much bigger than that in terms of our culture.”

Pantaleo said, “The whole idea of this project is to educate the kids so they can take care of it in the future.”

Thompson expressed, “We are here with the hope that this voyage will help to bring more and more children down to Puʻuloa, Pearl Harbor area so that they can learn how special it is.”

Pantaleo reflected, “When our community found out that the Hōkūleʻa is coming into Pearl Harbor really energized the community. They all they all wanted to be involved I could just see the community revitalized and really wanted to be part of it and not just for that one week but forever and so forever the Hōkūleʻa will be with us.”