Ancient Hawaiian Fishponds [Paperback]

Joseph Farber (Author), Joseph M. Farber (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Ancient Hawaiian Fishponds: Can Restoration Succeed on Moloka'i? is a well-researched account of the shoreline fishponds and the various attempts that have been made to restore them. Regulation, Farber feels, presents the biggest barrier to returning fishponds to productivity. -- Curt Sanburn, Honolulu Weekly, Winter Book Issue-November 19-25, 1997

The book is a compelling compilation of the philosophy and data which supports revival of Hawaii's once thriving "fish farming complexes," not only on Moloka'i, but throughout the archipelago. Farber's is a holistic approach to pond restoration: To successfully revive traditional aquaculture, intricate factors leading to its decline must be understood-many of which continue to impede the return of traditional fish farming. Such a return (when enhanced by modern techniques) could prove vital in modern community-based economic/social system. Farber examines social and cultural challenges while providing a "how to" survival manual of labyrinthine permitting processes faced by proponents of restoration. Black and white photos of Molokai's sweeping pond complexes pepper the book's pages. Appendices are rife with clearly-presented statistics and practical step-by-step procedures to help pond restoration advocates wrangle their way through permitting. Can restoration succeed on Moloka'i? "The people of Moloka'i are the critical link to make this a reality," writes Farber. The title provocative question is challengingly made; but by book's end, remains hauntingly unanswered. -- Janice Palma-Glennie, Ka'u Landing, December 1997

This book discusses how fishponds functioned in a traditional Hawaiian society, how they were gradually abandoned and destroyed, and what efforts have been made to revive and restore Hawaii's fishponds. The author focuses on the evolution, decline and current revival of the Moloka'i fishponds. Farber emphasizes that, "The fishponds are cultural treasures-they embody an important s spiritual, cultural and historical link with the past and must be saved." -- Na Mea Kahiko, Hawaiian Historical Society Newsletter, November 1997

From the Back Cover

Loko I'a o Moloka'i

The south shore of Moloka'i is blessed with the greatest number of ancient Hawaiian fishponds in the State and perhaps the strongest advocates of fishpond preservation and restoration. The community envisions these ponds, which have slowly deteriorated and under utilized, will be restored and managed by and for themselves primarily for subsistence use. Secondary considerations in restoring the fishponds include utilizing them as teaching tools for various disciplines (Hawaiian culture, history, biology, oceanography, resource management, business entrepreneurship, et al), eco-tourism, recreation and community-based economic development. Beyond these proposals, however, is the over-riding wish of the community to save these historic structures from further destruction as they embody an important spiritual, cultural and historic link with the past.

Concurrent with the slow physical destruction of the fishponds has emerged a plethora of environmental laws and regulations to protect Hawaii's marine and coastal environment. While these laws intend to balance the competing interests of protecting marine and coastal environments against its over-development and degradation they also pose the latest, and many feel the greatest, impediment to attempts to restore the ancient Hawaiian fishponds.

How can all of these interests comfortably coexist and at the same time allow the fishponds to be restored in a timely and economical fashion? Where can we find a balance between fishpond restoration and environmental protection? This book is attempt to provide answers to these questions. Major sections include: Historical background (including physical characteristics, cultural, socio-political roles of ancient fishponds, decline and destruction of fishponds). The fishpond restoration movement (1901-1995). Community-based planning strategies for fishpond restoration on Moloka'i. Permit requirements and procedures for fishpond restoration.

Product Details

• Paperback: 100 pages
• Publisher: Neptune House Pubns; 1st edition (May 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0965978206
• ISBN-13: 978-0965978200
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 7.5 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,298,980 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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3.0 out of 5 stars Hardly a nibble, June 8, 2008

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Harry Eagar (Maui) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Ancient Hawaiian Fishponds (Paperback)

Old Hawaii had nearly 500 artificial fishponds. It took about a century to ruin most of them, or cause them to be abandoned. And for nearly that long, efforts have been made to start restoring the ponds.
The restoration movement has produced a string of failures. The focus (as of 1998, when this book was published) was on the south shore of Molokai, but planner Joseph Farber considered it to be "on the edge of failure."
"Ancient Hawaiian Fishponds" is an alternative development plan that would retain but demote technical experts and give real decision-making power to a community organization with an anti-Western (or subsistence) economic outlook.
A fishpond that is not too badly decayed can be restored, physically, for the price of a new 4 X 4 pickup truck. But regulatory costs can easily equal or exceed the work costs.
On Molokai, said Farber, all efforts were at a halt because state health regulators (following federal requirements) were not allowing any work to be done in pristine ocean waters -- not even moving fallen rocks back onto a pile where they had rested for several hundred years.
The idea that the ocean off Molokai is Class AA (pristine) and untouchable is a stupid joke to Molokai people, who watch thousands of tons of sediment erode off the naked hillsides every time it rains.
Farber considers that the ruin of the fishponds was a consequence of Western ideas of land ownership and production. In the old days, he believes, the community worked together under the direction of chiefs and konohiki (overseers) to successfully manage a valuable resource.
So, in addition to putting direction back into the community, he advocates eliminating (or at least simplifying) environmental regulations. "For fishponds to operate properly, the entire ahupuaa (adminsitrative district from shore to mountaintop) must be considered as a planning unit," says Farber. Divided ownership tends to prevent this.
In his interpretation, the high costs of meeting environmental regulations mean that only entities with lots of money can even attempt shoreline projects.
A community group cannot afford "the regulatory risks," which include "complexity and ambiguity" of interpretation, delays and inaction, changes in regulations, miscommunication, and lawsuits and administrative appeals against a project.
No doubt Western-style developers, who Farber evidently detests, would say the same about their regulatory hurdles.
There are two possibilities: The environmental regulations are too demanding and should be relaxed for all applicants; or, the regulations are just about right, but community organizations should be allowed to get away with an inadequate job, while monied interests should still have to do a good job.
Alternative two, despite its evident unfairness, is Farber's choice.
But before getting to that point, it is necessary to clarify the economic function of a Hawaiian fishpond. Farber is no help here.
The first question that needs answering before fishponds are restored is whether they can be made to pay for their own renaissance or will need a permanent subsidy.
And that depends on how much fish you can get. Farber gives many productivity assessments, wildly differing, with no way to tell which could be reliable.
The fact that ponds were unable to compete with commercial ocean fishing in the 19th century, which Farber acknowledges, suggests that fishponds are not the easy management system they are cracked up to be.
There are many suggestions that it is wrong to imagine that Hawaiians were interested in producing a high yield of fish, per acre, per year or per laborer.
First of all, commoners (makaainana) did not get to eat fish from most of the ponds, though they were driven to do all the work.
The actual goal of most ponds appears to have been production of a small amount of high-quality fish for an elite. The fish raised in a pond on Kauai and delivered live for a chief's lunch on the Big Island must have been the most expensive food, in terms of labor input, ever eaten.
But if that is the case, then the only hope for restoring the ponds is to have a large, permanent subsidy.
That would not be hard to justify. Farber says, "Fishponds have an intrinsic value far beyond mere economic considerations."
That is not quite right. The Old Hawaiians did not ignore economics. They just valued a fish differently if it was fed to a chief than if a slogger in the taro ponds ate it.
That valuation no longer pertains. If everybody pays the same for fish, the ponds can never pay their own way in fish. But maybe they could in culture.