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 the conceptualization, design, and actualization of the reprint. Support for printing was provided by the Center for Oral History at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority, and Hawai‘i Sea Grant.

Partnering Organizations

Kuaʻāina Ulu ʻAuamo (KUA) means “grassroots growing through shared responsibility.” KUA is a movement-building non-profit organization that works to empower communities across Hawaiʻi to mālama (care for) their environmental heritage and work toward a shared vision of ‘āina momona—abundant, productive, ecological systems that support community well-being. Founded in 2012 by grassroots indigenous and local community-based natural resource management initiatives, KUA employs a community-driven approach that provides backbone support and facilitation for three statewide networks: E Alu Pū, Hui Mālama Loko Iʻa, and the Limu Hui, a network of limu practitioners, educators, researchers and community stewards from across Hawai‘i who are committed to the protection, perpetuation, preservation, and restoration of limu knowledge, practice, and ancestral abundance of limu throughout our islands.

The University of Hawai‘i Sea Grant College Program (Hawai‘i Sea Grant) is part of the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa’s prestigious School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology. It supports an innovative program of research, education, extension, and communication services directed to increasing sustainability of coastal and marine resources, and resilience of coastal communities of the state, region, and nation. It has been serving Hawai‘i and the Pacific since 1968. The Limu Eater was originally printed by Hawaiʻi Sea Grant in 1978.

Note to the Reader

In this reprint of The Limu Eater the text from the original printing in 1978 and the vintage feel of the book were retained to honor the long history and cultural significance of limu throughout the years. Readers may notice that the text does not include Hawaiian diacritical marks, and while this particular reprint does not include them, we acknowledge that ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi has been central to the living practice of limu hana. As we look forward, we hope that this reprint of The Limu Eater can be part of the living, evolving, and growing practice of limu hana in Hawaiʻi. We encourage non-Hawaiian speakers to take time to research and explore the Hawaiian words used in this reprint, and to better understand the multiple meanings and interpretations of the Hawaiian words to form a deeper understanding of their significance.

All new materials in this book (the note to the reader, foreword, Nā Inoa Limu, and the addendum) do include Hawaiian diacritical marks in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi.

This reprint also includes a new addendum with updates to the scientific names that have changed since the original printing in 1978.

For the third printing of The Limu Eater we asked the original author, Heather Fortner, as well as Limu Hui coordinator, Uncle Wally Ito, to provide their thoughts on the importance of limu and the book today. We hope that you enjoy reading their reflections in the new foreword included with this reprint.

Email uhsgcomm@hawaii.edu or call (808) 956-7410 to order your copy through Hawaiʻi Sea Grant.