Moi harvest highlights Heeia pond traditions

HAWAII - During the hundreds of years that fishponds were a key food source in Hawaii, each had a caretaker who lived nearby and oversaw its aquaculture operation.

The group that now manages Heeia Pond wants to revive that tradition by building a modest but modern caretaker's cottage by the 88-acre fishpond on Kaneohe Bay.

The building would allow someone to live on site and guard against poaching of fish, crabs and limu in the pond, said Mahina Duarte, executive director of Paepae O He'eia, the nonprofit group that has managed the fishpond since 2001 in cooperation with landowner Kamehameha Schools.

The need for such a building is highlighted by the harvest this week of Paepae O He'eia's first crop of moi from the pond, said Keli'i Kotubetey, one of seven "core members" of the group of mostly 30-something professionals of native Hawaiian ancestry.

Source: Star Bulletin