Native Hawaiians harnessed vast wisdom and foresight in managing their natural resources, recognizing the importance of balanced stewardship toward the land and ocean to ensure abundance for themselves and future generations. Reviving and re-implementing pono (rightful, proper) practices is a positive step toward replenishing local fish populations.

Concern about the future generations. Meet present food needs without compromising the ability of future generations of people to meet their needs Irresponsible resource use is tantamount to denying future generations their means to survival.

Self-restraint. Take only what you need for immediate personal and family use and use what one takes carefully and fully without wasting. A good Hawaiian fisher is not the one with the largest catch but the one who can get what he or she needs without disturbing the natural processes.

Reverence for ancestors and sacred places. Hawaiians inherited valuable knowledge from their ancestors. At one time, that knowledge was crucial to survival. Ancestors are worshipped because the survival of Hawaiian culture depends on knowledge and skills passed from generation to generation.

Malama. The Hawaiian perspective is holistic, emphasizing relationships and affiliations with other living things. Accountability, nurturing and respect, important for good human relationships, are also beneficial in relationships with marine life.

Pono behavior. Hawaiians are expected to act properly and virtuously in relationships with past, present, and future generations and with the food sources that sustain them. Native Hawaiian resource management practices are not driven by written regulations, but by an unwritten social code reinforced by extended family and community. People do the right thing by their people, by their ancestors.

Source: Kelson “Mac” Poepoe, Ho‘olehua Hawaiian Homestead