Traditional practices

Aerial drone oblique view of a coastal parcel with wetlands, trees, meadows, and a narrow sandy coastline

Developing an ecosystem-based monitoring program for adaptive management of Kalou lo‘i and loko wai

 Research Projects 2024-2026 PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Carmella Vizza Sea Grant Graduate Fellow: Adrian Dougherty Research Track: Aquaculture Wetland restoration efforts in Hawaiʻi exist at the unique interface of traditional Hawaiian practices, conservation, agriculture, and aquaculture. These efforts involve enlarging endangered Hawaiian ...
A low rocky walkway extends along one side of a waist-deep fishpond bounded by trees and built structures, with high volcanic mountains in the distance.

Harnessing Indigenous and local knowledge to investigate causes of decline in Hawai‘i estuarine fisheries and develop strategies to support their restoration

 Research Projects 2024-2026 PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Robert Toonen Sea Grant Graduate Fellow: Nākoa Goo Research Track: Aquaculture Hawaiian fishponds, or loko iʻa, are generally considered the most technologically advanced of ancient aquaculture systems. By mimicking and enhancing natural processes, a strategy ...
View looking at a rippled surface of semi-murky shallow waters with a school of medium-sized silvery fish amongst smaller red-tinged ones swimming near the surface.

The development of environmental acclimation-based rearing strategies to optimize survival and growth in amaʻama or striped mullet, Mugil cephalus

 Research Projects 2024-2026 PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Andre Seale Sea Grant Graduate Fellow: Reilly Merlo Research Track: Aquaculture Efforts to revitalize traditional Hawaiian fishponds aim to increase sustainable seafood production and reduce Hawaiʻi’s reliance on importation. However, fish production has encountered challenges ...
Effects of loko i‘a (fishpond) restoration on climate-dependent ecosystem dynamics in Kāneʻohe Bay, O‘ahu, Hawai‘i

Effects of loko i‘a (fishpond) restoration on climate-dependent ecosystem dynamics in Kāneʻohe Bay, O‘ahu, Hawai‘i

 Research Projects 2024-2026 PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Lisa McManus Co-INVESTIGATORS: Elizabeth Madin, Yoshimi Rii, Kawika Winter, Anne Innes-Gold Research Track: Aquaculture Loko i‘a (traditional Hawaiian fishponds) once played a large role in an integrated agroecology system. Historically, loko i‘a were used to ...
Evaluating the resilience of productive rocky intertidal ecosystems to sea-level rise using a community-based approach

Evaluating the resilience of productive rocky intertidal ecosystems to sea-level rise using a community-based approach

 Research Projects 2024-2026 PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Haunani Kane Co-INVESTIGATORS: Atsuko Fukunaga, John Burns, Kainalu Steward PI-CASC Graduate Scholar: Makoa Pascoe Research Track: Island Resilience and Sustainability Healthy and productive intertidal ecosystems support cultural identity through subsistence gathering and restoration of traditional ...
Two workers in blue shirts are barely visible attending to trees in a lush, multi-species agroforestry plot

Building resilient coastal forests through enhancing biocultural research and career pathways

 Research Projects 2024-2026 PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Leah Bremer Co-INVESTIGATORS: Tamara Ticktin, Kiana Frank, Zoe Hastings Silao PI-CASC Graduate Scholar: Sebastian Church Research Track: Island Resilience and Sustainability Well-managed coastal forests, including agroforests, provide important climate adaptation benefits, including erosion control, flood ...
Cover of the book The Limu Eater

The Limu Eater – A Cookbook of Hawaiian Seaweed

Vintage Reprint Available in October 2022 This reprint of The Limu Eater is the product of a partnership between Kuaʻāina Ulu ʻAuamo (KUA) and the University of Hawaiʻi Sea Grant College Program (Hawai‘i Sea Grant), who worked collaboratively to support ...
Rootlets abound in a brown chunk of mud held for the camera

Sneaking up on mud

by Becca Lensing In between mud sample collections, Uncle Clay Ching, of Hallelujah Hou fishing on Molokaʻi, gave us a crash course on throw net fishing on one of the largest fringing reef flats in the world. He taught us ...
Shallow coastal waters in a rocky baylet show patterns of upwelling water

Using, valuing, and caring for groundwater dependent ecosystems in Kona, Hawaiʻi

by Veronica GibsonGroundwater is an important resource. This is especially true on the leeward Kona coast of Hawaiʻi Island, where groundwater is the primary source of water for both humans and ecosystems. Virtually no surface runoff or perennial streams exist ...
Report cover of kulana noii featuring a view of Heeia

Kūlana Noiʻi

ABOUT Place-based stewards in the Heʻeia ahupuaʻa expressed a need for a set of guidelines to help ensure that research projects focused in Heʻeia engage in equitable and reciprocal partnership with those connected to and caring for the ahupuaʻa. In response to ...