NOWRAMP
2002
Forgotten
Knowledge
Lisianski Island
Written By Carlos Eyles
Photography by Jim Watt
October 1, 2002
Cloud
islands rest on the eastern horizon. We have shifted spatial
realities as pastel sky peels away leaving a cumquat residue
on the tips of the island clouds. In the west storm clouds
await their orders, standing by with squall and wind. Seas
the color of fresh fired steel, are still flat from the
doldrums of yesterday, but they ripple with new fate this
morning. Lisianski lays low, flat and unobtrusive to the
east, its resident petrels beginning their commute to the
sea's far reaches. To the north, clouds, like storm troopers
muster for attack, there is change in the wind. The sun
breaks the horizon setting the troopers ablaze, softening
them to butter, and their squalls to mists of pink, feeding
the dark sea its light.
"Science,"
Mark Heckman said earlier today, "is the search for
verifiable reality." And in a very real sense, that
is precisely what is taking place up here in these remote
islands, the scientists are verifying reality. We are documenting
the reality in words and photographs and videos, but that
doesn't cut any ice when it comes to protecting an area
so far removed from the world at large. It is as if we were
treasure hunters and have discovered this enormous body
of wealth, and now we have to see exactly what that wealth
represents. Not so we can spend it but so we can keep it
for all of Hawai‘i, perhaps for the entire world, for 
such
treasures become more valuable the less there are of them.
At one time all of the Hawaiian Islands were such treasures.
The ancient Hawaiians knew a treasure when they came upon
one; they knew how to care for it so that it would remain
a treasure for the continual reap of its bounty. In those
days, as Dr. Alan Friedlander points out, a young fisherman
was required to watch the older fisherman at work and to
hold the catch, but he was not allowed to actually fish
until he had years of training. He had to know the life
history, behavior and ecology of the fishes before he was
allowed to catch them. The authority of village elders was
respected. They had natural refuges, and management practices
based on a kapu system that protected spawning times and
areas. However in the last two hundred years the reef fisheries
have decreased for several reasons, better fishing gear
is the only justifiable one. Mostly we have disregarded
the plain fact that we have been abusing the treasure that
was bequeathed to us through wasteful fishing practices
(mainly over fishing) and habitat destruction. Our Western
culture, with its emphasis on freedom of the individual,
is attractive and has a major effect in undermining the
structure of the old island societies. Rather than obey
the customs and regulations, fisherman claim the right to
fish as much as they please and anywhere they like. As a
result young people now believe it is their birthright to
take whatever they can pull up without regard for the needs
of future generations. In addition the fishermen tend to
target larger fish and after awhile only the small kind
are left. In what's left of the fish populations, nearly
all the genetic input is from smaller fish, which in turn
produce still smaller fish. Eventually the large fish disappear
altogether and with them the entire fishery is reduced.
The
last of the original treasure resides here in the Northwestern
Hawaiian Islands. We can see for the first time in a hundred
years, what the entire treasure looked like before it was
destroyed, see its incredible abundance and its extraordinary
beauty. Perhaps more importantly, see its balance. The overall
predator fish weight in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands,
not including lagoon areas to make a fair comparison
to the Main Hawaiian Islands, is 54% (ulua, sharks, kahala)
compared to the Main Hawaiian Islands at 3% predators. Additionally,
the overall fish weight (biomass) in the Northwestern Hawaiian
Islands is 260% greater than that of the Main Islands, while
the mean weight of the large, or apex predators, is a whopping
570% greater than the Main islands.(3)
No
one on this ship, no Hawaiian wants the last of their heritage
to be destroyed, for the sea and all its creatures is of
Hawai‘i both in spirit and in body, no less nor greater than
the islands themselves. How can we keep it as it has always
been? How can we learn from what it tells us to better understand
what we have lost, and perhaps what we can recapture. The
Ancient Hawaiians could tell us if they were here. I wonder
if anyone would listen. But the scientists are here, and
they try to understand what the Old Hawaiians understood,
what we all understand, of some level, that everything is
connected, and when you break the threads of one connection
it affects the entire treasure. Science in the form of Dr.
Alan Friedlander and his team, understand the threads, they
see the threads and give them scientific names that sometimes
confuse you and me, and I often think they are talking about
a different sea, but the experience of this expedition has
taught me that we are all speaking of the same sea. The
sea that you and I daily dive in, or fish from or surf on
and they are making it a verifiable reality for those who
don't or can't see it like we do everyday. To do so is to
be able to speak of it to those who do not understand the
sea as those of us who feel it so deeply in our hearts.
It is the only way we can save what we have, and improve
what we have damaged. Everyone, from fisherman to politicians
needs to know how the ocean works. They need to understand,
as the Ancient Hawaiians did, that everything in the sea
is related to one another. To take a fish here, is to affect
the coral there, to affect the coral there affects the limu
(seaweed) which in turn affects the fish that feed on it
which affects the fish that feed on those fish. It is the
circle of life, of balance and of harmony. If one link is
damaged or taken out the thread of connection is broken,
and the perfect system begins to come 
apart.
It can repair itself if left alone, but there is also a
point of no return, you take too much, break too many threads
and the animals are unable to recover. The black-lipped
pearl oysters are a good example of that; they were eliminated
from Pearl and Hermes Atoll within a few years. It is happening
to the ulua and the sharks in the Main Islands also the
big uhu ululi, 'a'awa, even the mu are down. The whole fish
stocks of the coral reefs are 20 to 25% of what they were
just a hundred years ago. At the present rate there will
be little or nothing left for the next generation.
We have an opportunity, certainly our last one, to redeem
ourselves and these Islands, but it will take courage to
enforce the management of our fisheries. The scientists
are doing their part, but it will mean nothing unless we
take the information they provide and begin to protect the
treasures the Ancient Hawaiians so valued. The time has
come for all of us to move from takers to caretakers.
References:
(1)
Interview with Alan Friedlander
(2)
Charles Birkeland and Alan Friedlander, The Importance
of Refuges for Reef Fish Replenishment in Hawai‘i
(3)
J. Maragos and D. Gulko (eds) 2002. Coral
Reef Ecosystems of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands: Interim
Results Emphasizing the 2000 Surveys
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