Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Pa'ipa'i i ke kahawai o Wailupe






The traditional Hawaiian fishing method of pa'ipa'i was used in Wailupe stream on Sunday, March 14 to corral fish. The goal was to try to determine what types of fish are living in the stream.

Wailupe is one of the last streams in East Honolulu that has not been channelized with concrete.
About a dozen community members waded up the stream to just ma uka of Kalanianaole Hwy. to pa'ipa'i the water ma kai down to the boards and net being used to corral the fish.

Manuel Mejia of the Nature Conservancy and Division of Aquatic Recourses personnel were there to facilitate scientific analysis of the fish.

Some conclusions trying to be drawn include:

1) Are there native fish?
2) What are the alien fish eating?
3) What life stages are they in?
4) Are eradication programs necessary?
5) Are there positive ramifications of alien fish?
The days before Sunday included much rain and the water was running fairly strongly on that day from ma uka to ma kai.

Baby ʻamaʻama (stripped mullet), uouoa (sharp nose mullet), kanda mullet and āholehole (bottom picture) were caught in addition to one tadpole. Talapia were seen in the water, but none were caught.

Many baby mullet (pua) were seen swimming approx. 20 yards in front of the pa'ipa'i crew; however, most were very elusive and were able to evade the pa'ipa'i crew, corral and net. Some of the small fish were not positively identified.


Another pa'ipa'i attempt may be made in the summer under different conditions including dryer weather preceeding pa'ipa'i and different tidal conditions.




Thursday, March 5, 2009

Todayʻs Huki Tally


98 bags of invasive algae were pulled today at Paiko by 20 of us in about 1 1/2 hours for a total of 3076 lbs. Right on, gang!

Mahalo nui to all who were able to make it out and to TNC & DAR crews for their usual great support. Mahalo also to Kalihi Valley Nature Park for allowing algae to be dumped there.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Old Mākāhā adjacent to Paiko Lagoon






There are remnants of an old mākāhā at the base of Paiko Lagoon where the lagoon meets the ma kai side or start of Kuliʻouʻou Road. You can see an indentation in the old wall there and the gaps or groves in the wall where the mākāhā gate used to slide up and down.

At this time, on the opposite side of the wall, it is all filled and is ground and grassy area adjacent to the Kuliʻouʻou Kai condominium. It would be interesting to know if Kulioʻouʻou stream originally fed into this location or if there were adjacent fish stocking ponds adjacent to Paiko Lagoon in the old days. Carved into the wall is the date May 6, 1934.

Mahalo to Chris Cramer for pointing this out.


Native Plant Restoration at Paiko Lagoon




On Saturday, Feb 28th, community members & volunteers came out to Paiko Lagoon & Wildlife Sanctuary to remove invasive pickle weed (ʻakulikulikai) and to plant native coastal plants adjacent to the lagoon.

Native ʻAkulikuli (a succulent type coastal plant), naupaka kahakai, Pōhinahina, Nehe, 'Ilima, Naio, 'Ohai, Maiapilo & Pāʻū o Hiʻiaka were some of the types of native plants that were re-introduced to the area.

There are some nice areas of Pōhuehue vines (Beach Morning-Glory) growing on the adjacent beach area. Pōhuehue vines were used to drive fish into nets. Also, roots, stems & leaves were used as a medicine but could be poisonous in large quantities (Hawaiian Dictionay - Pukui/Elbert). The ʻAkiʻaki grass (Seashore Rush Grass) is also abundant in this area. ʻAkiʻaki is a coarse grass that grows on sandy beach type areas and was used to exorcise spirits (Hawaiian Dictionay - Pukui/Elbert).

Big mahalo to The Nature Conservancy, Mālama Hawaiʻi, International Year of the Reef (IYOR) & The Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority (HTA) for organizing & funding the event including purchasing of plants & tools. Also, the State Division of Forestry crew who came out to support the effort and the growing of the plants by Hui Kū Maoli Ola.