Pond Has Good Year, Good Harvest

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The caretakers of Heeia Fishpond have a lot to be excited about these days: Between winning two grants, planning summer internships and a successful moi sale, life is good.

“We went from not having too much to being pretty happy,” said Hi`ilei Kawelo, executive director of Paepae O He`eia.

In January, the group won a year-long Kaiaulu grant of $62,250 from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. It kicks in next month and will support community work days and refurbishing the 6,500-foot fishpond wall. This month Hawaii Tourism Authority awarded Paepae O He`eia $55,369 through its Kukulu Ola HTA Living Hawaiian Culture Program. Kawelo said this grant also will be used to rebuild the walls and to fund community outreach.

“We have community work days on the second and fourth Saturdays,“she said.“It also expands our ability to give tours, corporate level tours, and different ways of bringing people to the fishpond to educate them and get them involved.

“We are offering three summer cultural workshops focused on traditional Hawaiian methods of wall building, which we’ll be announcing soon. We’ve got a bunch of opportunities out there.”

Speaking of opportunities,Paepae O He`eia urges Windward teens 16 to 18 to apply for its summer internships. The outdoor program runs June 9-18 , co-sponsored by Hui Ku Maoli/Papahana Kuaola.

“They’ll learn skills and knowledge to be able to take care of an ahupua`a,“said Kewalo, such as how to preserve, restore and protect the ahupua’a resources; aquaculture, native plant propagation, lo`i, restoration and reforestation. The interns also gain cultural knowledge of the area, its plants and animal species. Pay is $11 per hour to work 30 hours per week at either the Heeia Fishpond and or Waipao (Heeia Mauka). Harold K. L. Castle Foundation funds the internships.

For applications (due March 31) and details, call 236-6178 or email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

In other fishpond news, they had their third fish sale Jan. 12, selling out all 700 pounds of moi (at about 3/4 pound each) that they’ve raised since 2006. Proceeds go to pond revitalization and fish production.

“There’s a demand out there,“she added.

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