By Mark Tagal, Senior Aquaculturist
As Uncle Wally Ito and countless other Hawaiian Uncles and Auntiess say, “If no get Limu, no get fish.”
The Waimanalo Limu Hui has been working on restoration efforts for the Pahonu fishpond on Oahu, Hawaii. An ancient pond that was probably not so much used for culturing the traditional mullet and milkfish, as they prefer a brackish water pond, as it was to store captured turtles for use by the Ali’i class. These walls now provide shelter for young limu.
“The Waimānalo Limu Hui has been hosting a monthly limu planting since November 2017. The first species of limu that we started to replant in Waimānalo Bay is Limu Manauea, the Hawaiian species of Ogo. Our limu is sourced from Uncle Wally Ito where it is grown in tanks till the optimum time for the spores to be spread. We then receive and use it for our monthly plantings. We begin the day by teaching participants the anatomy of the limu and how to wili it into lei with raffia. These lei are then wrapped around rocks to be planed out into the ocean with in Waimānalo Bay. The group proceeds into the water to place the rocks with a pule to help it flourish once more.”
Quote from The Waimānalo Limu Hui, www.waimanalolimuhui.org/limu
The Governor of Hawaii has declared 2022 The Year of Limu. Oftentimes, we look at the health of our oceans in gigantic terms. We see the temperature of the whole globe is changing. All of our oceans are acidifying. Entire populations of fish are vanishing, and while these matters are all serious and pressing, sometimes it’s easier to wrap your head around something simple.
