Category Archives: Fish/Fishing

The latest from Hilo, 1898.

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THE NEWS FROM NORTH HILO.

Mr. Editor of the Greatest Prize of the Hawaiian People:

Aloha oe:—Please include this bit of news from here in North Hilo.

On the first of this month, Pakele, Iaukea, Laika, Kalei, and Lahapa went to go pick opihi on the shore of Waipunalei, and upon their return, they climbed up the pali. Lahapa was the first to climb up and the rest followed. When they reached the midpoint up the pali, a rocked dislodged and hit Lapaha square on the chest and he rolled down the pali, and because of the love of God, he was caught on a pandanus tree that was burned earlier in a fire. It was 40 feet high from where he tumbled from to where he was caught. Therefore, O my sisters and brothers and younger siblings, don’t go pick opihi again and return upland of the pali, lest you end up dying. Continue reading →

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William Panui talks about fishing, 1989.

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[Found under: “Storytelling now a respected art”]

William Panui: Fish tales

Pacific Islands: Reef fishing on the Big Island

William Panui was adopted by his grandparents and grew up on land the family owned at remote Keei Beach on the South Kona coast.

His grandfather—Lui Kauanoe Panui—only spoke Hawaiian and taught him the old ways of fishing. “The old techniques depended on what was available,” he said. “Now you can just go to the store and buy everything you need.” Continue reading →

G. W. E. Kupele responds to Kanepuu’s question on the Kanepuaa plant, 1857.

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Pertaining to the Kanepuaa Plant

O Hae Hawaii

Aloha oe:—I saw in the Hae Hawaii, Issue 19, the thought of J. H. Kanepuu. Asking the oldsters who know of the plant of Kanepuaa. The thing that will increase food and fish according to him, if the plant of Kanepuaa is gotten.

Here below is the response. The other day, I asked some oldsters with knowledge of the plant of Kanepuaa. They answered, it is not an actual plant like the plants of the medical kahuna [kahuna lapaau]. But it is a kind of worship by the name of Kanepuaa. Continue reading →

Fish appear once more at Kaanapali, 1862.

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Kaanapali’s fish have returned.

Those words are proudly placed above. Kaanapali’s fish have returned; so that our friends from Hawaii of Keawe to Kauai of Mano will know the news of the seasons. In this year that we are living, the native fishes of that land have come once more. They being the Kawakawa, Opelu, Muhee, Nehu. Continue reading →

On sacred stones, 1921.

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THE STONE FISH GODDESS “MALEI” TO BE RETURNED TO MAKAPUU

Hawaiians have not forgotten the story about the stone goddess called “Malei,” a stone deity cared for and worshiped by the Hawaiian fishermen in the olden days; the great fish that the stone deity always brought to shore was the uhu, as is seen in the story of Hiiaka:

“Aia la o ka uku kai o Makapuu,
He i’a ia na Malei na ka wahine e noho ana i ka ulu a ka makani,
I Koolau ke ola i ka huaka’i malihini,
Kanaenae a Hiiaka i ka poli o Pele,
E Malei e, i halekipa ke aloha, e uwe mai!’

[There are the uhu of Makapuu which swim in procession,
Fish of Malei that dwells in the rising winds,
In Koolau lies the sustenance for the unfamiliar travellers,
Hiiakaikapoliopele prays,
O Malei, welcome us in love; let us weep!]

Continue reading →