Hawaiʻi lawmakers have advanced a measure to bolster a native fish hatchery program in Waiʻanae that would produce pua, or juvenile mullet, for fishponds and stock enhancement.
With 45 fishponds across the state currently at various stages of restoration, a hatchery program would ensure they become fully functioning sources of local protein.
Waiʻanae High School teacher Katie Kealoha gives us a tour of the Marine Science Learning Center. This on-campus aquaculture facility offers students hands-on education in marine science and enterprise. Products produced there are sold to the local community.
“We have the cafe at Waiʻanae Comp and the ʻElepaio Program providing meals and food for our kupuna, they want to start with some of our ogo,” Kealoha said, referring to the Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center.
“But they eventually want to give protein from our community to our community. So, we can hopefully supply them with tilapia.”
Raising ogo and salt-water tilapia for sale was the direct result of student research at MSLC. Students experimenting with potential products or production problems has been a highlight of the program, Kealoha said.
"This is kind of like a learning space, so even though we’re trying to produce and sell, there’s always student projects going on. So, we had students who wanted to do a catch and cook. They pulled a salt water tilapia and then they pulled a fresh water, and they prepped it the same way. And then they taste-tested it," Kealoha said.
"The salt water fish was getting mopped and the fresh water fish was just sitting there. So, they were like ugh, they really taste different. So, we said okay, we really might have something here."
The idea of saltwater tilapia as a potential product came out of a student project last year.
So this year, Waiʻanae senior Branzon Kahalewai-Sabigao wanted to figure out if tilapia would grow best in fresh water tanks or saltwater tanks.
"I've been taking data over the last three months, and I've found that tilapia that grows in saltwater managed to grow bigger and faster than tilapia that's grown inside of this fresh water tank," Kahalewai-Sabigao said.
"But there was a big problem in my project, while I was putting the freshwater tilapia into the saltwater tank, I was finding about two to three weeks that my fish kept dying over and over."
"They're not getting used to the water. From fresh straight to salt, they probably can’t survive, they’re going to get stressed out. So, what I’ve done is I’ve put them into smaller tanks and I’ve stepped them up each week. And they got better after that," Kahalewai-Sabigao added.
Generations of Waiʻanae High students, including Kealoha, have gone through MSLC since its inception in 1991.
Kealoha’s mom Dana Hoppe was there from the beginning.
“My biggest dream has always been to have Waiʻanae kids bring the ʻanae (mullet) back to Waiʻanae," Hoppe said.
Waiʻanae, which means “mullet water” in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi, was famous for its abundance of ʻanae.
MSLC received funding last year to start a fish hatchery here with pua ‘ama, or juvenile mullet.
“These are pua that came from a run that was done at the Oceanic Institute. So former students of ours are the ones who learned how to spawn these folks, learn how to take the babies through the larvae stages and then brought them here,” Kealoha said.
“And our students this year actually went and helped to separate out the brood stock. So Waiʻanae kids had a hand in like every step of these little babies.”
Support in the state Legislature
Senate Bill 2329 would provide funding and staff for hatchery programs like this statewide.
This could be a game changer for people like Keliʻi Kotubetey, the co-founder of Paepae O Heʻeia. The organization has spent more than 20 years tackling the restoration of Heʻeia Fishpond, and its many challenges.
“A big part of it was where do we get our seed from?” Kotubetey said. “And now 20 years later, seeing a high school that’s in a community that is predominantly Hawaiian being a big part of the solution. It’s amazing to see.”
Kotubetey joined more than 40 fishpond stewards with the Hui Mālama Loko Iʻa in touring MSLC. Local limu expert Wally Ito was among them.
“The problem with the restocking was in the old style system the kiaʻi loko (fishpond steward) used to go out and gather all the small pua ‘ama,” Ito said.
“The problem is we cannot find that abundance anymore. So then rather than taking from the outside to put into the fishpond, we need programs like this.”
SB 2329 passed out of the state Senate and now awaits a hearing in the House.
