Reef rescue 101

At Waihe'e beach, healing begins at the bottom of the food chain

Haleakala Times
November 20, 2007
by Helen Anne Schonwalter

A project designed by Hawaiian Resource Specialist, Kupuna Napua Barrows, is simultaneously restoring a degraded reef and enabling local families to reconnect to their fishing grounds.

The Waihe'e Limu Restoration Project is the story of a dedicated Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) inspiring her community to restore a reef she came to know through the stories of her tutu wahine. Not a native of Maui herself, Barrows raised her children at Waihe'e Beach and saw what happens to the herbivorous fish population when a major food source-limu-becomes scarce. Opportunistic fish in the food chain, including sharks, fill the niche that the herbivores once occupied.

Barrows wasn't content to simply join the fishermen bemoaning the loss of their favorite fish. "My concept was to bring the people who have always lived in the Waiehu and Waihe'e back to malama ka aina.... throughout my childhood, my tutu wahine would share stories of these places in Na Wai Eha: Wailuku, Waikapu, Waiehu and Waihe'e," says Barrows.

Kupuna Barrows sought the traditional and scientific/technological knowledge to malama ka aina. Integrating the two sources, the Waihe'e Limu Restoration Project (WLRP) was born in 2004, with Barrows and the community funding the project. Additionally, a grant from the University of Hawaii program for local educators provided a GPS system, a laptop, necessary equipment and training. She set to work restoring several endemic limu and removing invasive limu species from her "backyard" reef.

Fish and turtles are no different from humans when it comes to favorite foods. "Limu kala (sargassum echinocarpum) attracts kala (unicorn fish). Local fishermen have found the kala limu in the bellies of this delicious fish." "Hinalea (wrasses) eat manauea limu," (gracilaria coronopifolia) says Barrows.

Kanaka Maoli knew these food preferences and habits of fish in their own ahupua'a. They were able to mitigate the deposition of sand on the reef by hand cleaning each section of reef smothered in sand. "It was painstaking, but ancient Hawaiians had the time, the manpower, and they had to eat," says Barrows.

They also knew what Barrows is learning in her marine biology courses at MCC. "Some limu, like limu kala, have nodules that release spores," she explains. Once limu kala has been attached to the porous coral, the spores will fill in the pores of the coral rock," she explains.

But, when limu has been over harvested and no longer regenerates naturally, fisheries managers and dedicated people have to intervene.

With the help of her ohana and occasional students from the MCC Marine Option Program, Barrows collects limu that has washed ashore at Kanaha Beach, keeps them hydrated, then prepares a hau cordage to which she attaches the limu.

Using the sharp edge of the opihi shell, she strips bark from the endemic hau tree found in neighbors' yards. Then she soaks the bark for at least a week to soften it. "This allows the fibers to be separated into paper thin strips," she says. "Now the hau strips can be braided into cordage."

With characteristic ha'a ha'a (humility), Barrows doesn't focus on the labor involved in her project. Her handiwork, however, is meticulous. as she carefully binds the interwoven cordage onto coral rock fragments that wash ashore. "Many of these "rocks" have living limu growth on them, so please leave them in the shoreline restoration areas where they may be used," she advises. "And leave the limu that wash ashore."

Wai wai iole limu fragments are used in another transplant method: kupuna Barrows collects the limu from Kanaha Beach and takes it to Waihe'e Beach. "Wai wai iole doesn't have nodes, yet attach a holdfast to the hard basaltic lava rocks and coral, and continue to grow."

Returning to her Waihe'e Elementary School Hawaiian Studies classroom, Barrows and her students learn how to slip limu fragments into spaces in the hau cordage and lower it onto the rock substrate. "It looks like a lei of limu," she adds.

Not only are these students learning the art of preparing and weaving hau fiber, a traditional binding, they are learning Hawaiian language and English language arts, taxonomy and keen observation.

Hands-on science activities engage children. Another boon to learning is the clever integration of modern science with traditional Hawaiian knowledge by way of Kupuna Barrows Powerpoint presentation.

Barrows teaches the kindergarteners the colors of the limu: green, red, brown, in English and Hawaiian.

The second graders learn math and science terms such as weight and height (of limu) as well as weather, tides, and water temperature. Using a refractometer, they learn to measure salinity of the water sample taken from Waihe'e Beach transects. Third graders learn about turbidity: the clarity or murkiness of the water due to sedimentation.

Students use their own language to describe the characteristics of the limu (bumpy, branches, pointed tips, brown). The ease with which young children learn the tongue twisting taxonomic nomenclature (the naming of species and genus in a systematic classification system)is impressive.

Ancient Hawaiians used a similar system of classification. Barrows elaborates, "Hawaiians named species/genus relationships using a characteristic of the limu such as color, or the fish that eats the limu: limu kala for example, kala being the name of the fish that eats that particular limu"

"Limu kohu," a favorite Hawaiian edible limu," is named kohu meaning "colored" since it is pinkish red when it is healthy, and bleached when it is under stress."

Barrows is teaching her ohana who accompany her into the field to malama ka aina. They learn to clean the limu carefully to insure that they do not transport any invasive species between beaches."We use several buckets of water," says Barrows.

In Hawaii, Barrows explains, the loss of diversity caused by alien or invasive species competition, has - even in small areas - had a catastrophic effect on the survival of species, many of which are already endangered, almost extinct, or confined to very small areas.

Contact: abarrows@hawaii.edu volunteers and donations are welcome.