Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 19, Number 3, 1 March 2002 — ʻEwa residents plant limu and hope [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

ʻEwa residents plant limu and hope

Commimity fights to restore "motherland " oflimu manauea By Naomi Sodetani Nanākuli resident Walter Kamanā vividly recalls how huge billowing limu beds thrived on the reefs along the 'Ewa coastline, giving rise to its reputation as "the motherland of limu." "īn those days, it washed up all over the beach. You never had to go in the water," says the 65-year old retired boat master and deep sea diver. "One hundred species of seaweed grew here, including five different types of limu manauea," the popular seaweed often mistakenly called "ogo," But in recent decades, the oneeabundant wild stocks of limu manauea have all but disappeared, largely due to overharvesting fueled by demand for the limu used to flavor poke and other loeal dish.es, Degraded water quality due to land use runoff and harbor dredging may also contribute to the decline, Four years ago, Kamanā and 'Ewa master fisherman/diver Henry Chang Wo launched a community campaign to restore limu beds onee considered among the richest in the state, "We're fighting to bring nature back to balance, and that benefits everybody," Kamanā says, "Everybody thinks the oeean will just replenish itself, but sometimes nature needs a little help," The grassroots replanting effort has widespread support of 'Ewa's two surfing clubs, fishermen, residents, the Hawaiian Civic Club, the 'Ewa Beach Neighborhood Board, and the Queen Lili'uokalani Children's Center, On the second Saturday of every month, the group conducts replanting sessions at One'ula Beach Park, "Limu is the temptation for the fish, who eome here to spawn," Kamanā tells about 50 Boy Scouts, high school and college students gathered around him on lauhala mats, "It's home for the crabs and small fish and all the big fish that eat the small fish, Limu is the foundation for the whole cycle of life,"

Kamanā shows the group how to braid the seaweed into raffia strands to form foot-long limu lei that Chang Wo will plant in the oeean, anchoring them to rocks and covering them with sand, The plantings

take about six months to grow, As a boy, Kamanā gathered limu for his grandmother, healer Maude Kau'i Hinawale, who taught him how to use lā'au o ke kai, "medicines of the sea," and who stressed

that "the motherland is willing to give, but you must give back," "This project offers powerful lessons of stewardship and awareness of limu's importance in Hawaiian culture and its role in regenerating marine life," says Randy Lee of QLCC's 'Ewa Unit. Existing laws already restrict commercial picking of limu manauea to 10 pounds a day per license; individuals are limited to one pound for home consumption, Plucking plants with roots or those with regenerative nodes is illegal, Flaunting these laws and the eommunity's effort, commercial pickers are yanking out seedlings as they grow, So the group is now pushing the Department of Land and Natural Resources to designate the area as a fisheries management area such as exists in Waikīkī, where fishing is allowed every other year, The twoyear process would involve holding public hearings and scientific surveys supporting the need for designation, īf successful, the project could extend to other areas as a model for limu restoration, Four thousand residents have signed a petition asking the state to establish a mile-long stretch of shoreline a mile east from One'ula Beach Park, from the vegetation line to the surf break, as a "limu sanctuary," Following a two-year kapu on picking, to allow new plantings a ehanee to grow, gathering for home consumption would be periodically allowed, Commercial harvesting and dragnet fishing would be prohibited completely, At low tide, Chang Wo dons a wet suit and gazes out at his "ieebox," "This plaee used to be so elean, so malia, all ehoke with limu and fish just waiting for my spear, Now ī gotta swim way out to catch anything, "People tell me, 'Why keep planting when greedy people just take 'em?' But if we don't do something, there's going to be nothing left," Heaving a catch bag bulging with limu lei, the diver slips on his mask and submerges beneath the lapping waves, The group's next replanting session will be Sat. Mar 9, 10 a.m.-l p.m. at One'ula Beach Park. For information, eall Randy Lee at QLCC at 676-5070. ■

_ Nā Mokupuni

LIMU LOVERS - Mililani Boy Scout Hiwo Leheino (cibove) rnciking ei lirnu lei to be replcintecl in the oeeein, Below cire Chcing Wo einel Keimeinō, limu replcinting project OrgCinizerS, Photos: Naomi Sodetani