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TOPICS: TRADITIONAL PRACTICES

A Ho‘olaule‘a of Knowledges

A HO‘OLAULE‘A OF KNOWLEDGES On Friday, February 23, 2018 Hawai‘i Sea Grant’s Center for Integrated Science, Knowledge, and Culture (now Center for Integrated Knowledge Systems) hosted an evening of education and entertainment! Featuring keynote speaker Sir Tīmoti Kāretu, a champion ...

Book Review: Kaiāulu Gathering Tides

by Jackie Dudock The tide is rising ahead of the early morning sun on the northeast coast of the Hawaiian island of Kaua‘i. Waves rush singing onto the outer reef where two throw net fishermen stalk the surge. An elderly ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Effects of watershed restoration to traditional Hawaiian land use practices on health of nearshore coral reef ecosystems

 Research Projects 2020-2022 PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Rob Toonen Co-INVESTIGATOR: Chris Jury Graduate Fellow: Paolo Marra-Biggs Native Hawaiians used the ahupuaʻa system to successfully manage their natural resources for centuries prior to Western contact. Following Western contact, this land management system was largely abandoned, ...

Enhancing social-ecological resilience and ecosystem services through restoration of coastal agroforestry systems

 Research Projects 2022-2024 PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Leah Bremer Co-INVESTIGATORS: Tamara Ticktin, Clay Trauernicht, Natalie Kurashima PI-CASC Graduate Scholar: Tressa Hoppe Research Track: Interdisciplinary Agroforestry systems, along with loʻi kalo and other systems, were abundant in historical Hawaiʻi, and there is great ...

Enhancing social-ecological resilience and ecosystem services through restoration of coastal agroforestry systems

 Research Projects 2020-2022 PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Leah Bremer Co-INVESTIGATORS: Tamara Ticktin, Clay Trauernicht, Kawika Winter Graduate Scholar: Gina McGuire Agroforestry systems have the capacity to support resilient coastal communities through providing food, conserving native biodiversity, and supporting multiple ecosystem services, and represent ...

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 ...

First Lady of Limu

by Dr. Celia Smith, Bill Thomas, Kawika Winter, and Mazie K. Hirono, U.S. SenatorI first met Dr. Isabella Abbott as she emerged from nearly 30 years at Hopkins Marine Station of Stanford University, as its first woman, and first minority, ...

Growing a Network of Limu Practitioners

by Josh McDanielUncle Wally Ito is passionate about limu, or seaweed. He says limu has always been an integral part of Hawaiian culture, with uses in food, medicine, and religious ceremonies. In a traditional Hawaiian diet, limu was the third ...

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 ...

Hawai‘i Sea Grant Research Symposium 2021

Register HERE to receive the zoom login information for the Research Symposium on December 17, 2021. When you register, zoom will send you a login link via email that is unique to you.2020-2021 Sea Grant-supported Principal Investigators (PIs) and their Sea ...

Hawaiian Reef Plants

The University of Hawai‘i Sea Grant College Program is pleased to present Hawaiian Reef Plants. The book is written by John M. Huisman, Isabella A. Abbott and Celia M. Smith, three of the world’s leading botanists, and is in full ...

Hehihehi management for microbial-mediated sediment removal in fishponds

 Research Projects 2018-2020 PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Kiana Frank Sedimentation has been identified as one of the top five challenges for restoration faced by fishpond stewards. It is not clear what the most effective (and cheap) mechanisms are for removing such large ...

Huli ‘ia

Huli ‘ia is an observational process documenting seasonal changes and shifts across entire landscapes, ma uka to ma kai (from the mountains to the ocean). Developed by Na Maka o Papahānaumokuākea, the Huli ‘ia process documents these natural changes over ...

Huli ‘ia: Observing the Changing Landscape

by Pelika Andrade Huli ‘ia is an observational process documenting seasonal changes and shifts across entire landscapes, ma uka to ma kai (from the mountains to the ocean). Developed by Na Maka o Papahānaumokuākea, the Huli ‘ia process documents these ...

ʻAha ʻIke Pāpālua – 2020 Report

In January 2020, we came together in a visioning ʻAha - to assemble around the questions of who, what, and why our Sea Grant Center of Excellence should focus its time, energy, and efforts. In this period of change, the ...

Integrating climate science with local knowledge through community vulnerability assessment on Kauaʻi

 Research Projects 2018-2020 PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Daniele Spirandelli Graduate Fellow: Alisha Summers Like many low-lying coastal regions of the world, the County of Kauaʻi in Hawaiʻi is vulnerable to the impacts of present and future hazards associated with climate change. While ...

Integration of next-generation sequencing into traditional Hawaiian practices to improve management and restoration of fishponds

 Research Projects 2016-2018 PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Robert Toonen Graduate Fellow: Kaleonani Hurley Hawaiian fishponds, or loko iʻa, are ancient aquaculture systems that are models of sustainable aquatic resource management based on long-term experience from traditional Native Hawaiian practices. There is much ...

Ka Pili Kai Fall 2016

Center of Excellence: Coastal and Climate Science and Resilience Center of Excellence: Marine Science Education Center of Excellence: Smart Building and Community Design Center of Excellence: Sustainable Coastal Tourism Institute of Hawaiian Language Research and Translation To address the needs, ...

Ka Pili Kai Ho‘oilo 2018

Click on the cover image to view the full issue. Welcome to our inaugural issue of the new Ka Pili Kai! Embracing knowledge from generations past and present: For our dedicated readers who have been receiving and reading our quarterly ...

Ka Pili Kai Ho‘oilo 2019

Click on the cover image to view the full issue. Limu Gifts from the Sea The legendary Dr. Isabella (Izzie) Kauakea Aiona Abbott, fondly (and aptly) nicknamed “The First Lady of Limu,” would have celebrated her 100th birthday this year ...

Ka Pili Kai Ho‘oilo 2020

Click on the cover image to view the full issue. How Will COVID-19 Shape Our Future This issue discusses some of the impacts of COVID-19 in Hawai'i and explores what they might mean for our future. All of us at ...

Ka Pili Kai Kau 2019

Click on the cover image to view the full issue. Ola I Ka Wai Water is Life The myriad issues surrounding water – water rights and law, water availability, changing climate and rainfall patterns, and understanding our aquifers in Hawai‘i ...

Ka Pili Kai Kau 2020

Click on the cover image to view the full issue. Community is Resilience Lucky we live Hawai‘i… as the local saying goes! In Hawai‘i, we’re blessed with an incredible environment with steep lush mountains and deep valleys sloping down to ...

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 ...

Kūlana Noiʻi

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 this ...

Limu Traditions

by Lurline Wailana McGregor“When I was growing up, if you went to a lūʻau, you would know who prepared the food and what area it came from by just knowing the taste of the limu and the kinds of limu ...

Loko Iʻa Needs Assessment

This report is the first comprehensive compilation of the research ideas and needs within the community of fishpond managers, landowners, and stewardship organizations to inform adaptation of fishpond practices toward their resilience, adaptation, and sustainability in the face of a ...

Microbial biogeochemical cycling across a chronosequence of mangrove introductions across Hawaiʻi

 Research Projects 2020-2022 PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Rosanna Alegado Graduate Scholar: Becca Lensing The red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle) was introduced to Molokaʻi in 1902 and has spread quickly across the main Hawaiian islands. Mangroves are critical to the health of environment where they ...

Podcast #2: Resilient Communities

Dr. Daniele Spirandelli and Alisha Summers work with Kauaʻi communities to develop assessments of their vulnerability to developing coastal hazards associated with climate change. Read more about their project here ...

Podcast #8: Microbial Mechanisms

Dr. Kiana Frank combines modern microbial biology with traditional fishpond management techniques to explore sediment removal from Hawaiian fishponds. Read more about her project here ...

Removing Invasive Algae to Restore Native Ecosystems

by Paula MoehlenkampWhile the diversity and beauty of plants on land are easily seen by us, we may often overlook their aquatic counterparts hidden beneath the sea. Algae, photosynthetic plants ranging from microscopic phytoplankton to larger seaweeds, live in fresh ...

Resource habitat mapping and diet characterization of native and non-native mullet species to inform adaptive management in He‘eia Fishpond

 Research Projects 2022-2024 PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Shimi Rii Co-INVESTIGATORS: Rosanna Alegado, Kawika Winter PI-CASC Graduate Scholar: Sheldon Rosa Research Track: Aquaculture Moʻolelo (Hawaiian oral traditions) speak of Meheanu, the moʻo or reptilian freshwater guardian of Heʻeia Fishpond, who functioned as the bringer ...

Sciences and the Sacred: Indigenous Data Sovereignty and Knowledge Stewardship

Sciences and the Sacred is a series designed to create safe, generative spaces for the University of Hawaiʻi community to come together in dialog about complex issues and explore topics from various knowledge systems. In Spring 2022 the seminar series ...

Sciences and the Sacred: Conversations on Maunakea

Sciences and the Sacred: Conversations on Maunakea This seminar series will foreground discussions of contemporary issues surrounding Maunakea by providing our UH community with a common understanding of why Maunakea is sacred from multiple perspectives. Each seminar will pair a ...

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 ...

The Joy of Limu

by Miwa TamanahaLimu is food, first and foremost, for fish, forming part of the foundation of a complex trophic web that spans from plankton to people. Limu is also food for people, probably most commonly brought to mind as an ...

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 ...

The Return of Kū‘ula: Restoration of Hawaiian Fishponds

by Josh McDaniel According to Hawaiian moʻolelo (oral traditions), Kūʻula built the first Hawaiian fishpond, or loko iʻa, on the island of Maui. Kūʻula was a fisherman of rare skill who is described as having supernatural powers for directing and ...

Updated guidance on best practices for community-embedded research in Hawaiʻi

Updated guidance on best practices for community-embedded research in Hawaiʻi   November 1, 2021 A groundbreaking publication that seeks to build more just and generative relationships between researchers and community members was recently updated to better reflect the nuances and ...

Voice of the Sea features Hōkūle‘a’s Historic Voyage and Homecoming

August 23, 2017 The television series Voice of the Sea will feature the inspirational Hōkūle‘a voyage and homecoming on Sunday, August 27 at 6:00pm. In this historic episode, we celebrate with original Hōkūle‘a builder and crew member John Kruse, navigator ...

Voyages of Rediscovery and Discovery

by Randolph Fillmore Thousands of years ago, people indigenous to the Pacific Islands traveled in large sea-going canoes, covering huge expanses of ocean. Exploring, trading, and settling newly found islands, including today’s Hawaiian Islands, these people carried their culture with ...
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