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Fishing, an
Art of Survival
by Betty Fullard-Leo
Being a fisherman, a poe lawaia, in old Hawai'i was
an honorable profession, one that grandparents handed
down to the boys in a family. It was a profession that
anyone would practice for the sake of survival, but
the more expert the fisherman, the more tools of the
trade-long canoes, short canoes, large and small nets,
various poles, woven fish traps, bone hooks-he possessed.
Most fishermen appealed to the god Ku'ula for his benevolence,
though a variety of deities might be worshipped, and
to insure a good catch, fishing heiau, called ko'a,
would be built. These heiau were named in honor of the
particular god, for example, Ku'ula ko'a, Kanemakua
ko'a, Kinilau ko'a, Kaneko ko'a, etc., that each man
chose as his particular good luck deity. Before setting
out to fish, offerings of bananas and baked pig would
be made at the heiau. Small Ku'ula alters, smooth, elongated
stones pointing toward heaven, also existed where offerings
could be made. Ku'ula rocks still can be found on promontories
overlooking favorite fishing sites.
Another fishing god who was honored was Mai'ai, an
ancestor who discovered the use of olona fiber for making
nets. In the 20th century, olona has been replaced by
increasingly more efficient man-made materials-cord,
linen, nylon, sugi-in net making. However, only a few
men have the knowledge, the time and the perseverance
to make their own nets today. Kahu Harold Teves, a minister
at Kauaha'ao Congregational Church at Wai'ohino on the
Big Island has a passion for fishing and is determined
to pass on the technique of net making to younger generations.
In old Hawai'i, they used upena ku'u, standing or gill
net, only, Kahu Teves explained to a group attending
a ho'olaulea (cultural celebration) at Mauna Kea Beach
Hotel. To set the record straight, he continued, Throw
net fishing was not a technique practiced in early Hawai'i,
but was brought to the Islands by the Japanese who came
to work in the sugar cane fields in the late 1800s.
The first nets used in Hawai'i are thought to have
been basket traps of various sizes-tiny for o'opu, bigger
for eels, large enough to hold a person for kala and
palani.
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An ancient net maker bartered dogs, loads of fish,
and food from his fields and taro lo'i in exchange for
4,000 or more strands of olona fiber which his wife
would braid into cord for the net. A fine-mesh net for
catching small fish might take a year to complete. The
size of the cord increased when larger four and five-finger
nets were made for catching big fish such as kala, ulua
and papio. Nets preserved at Bishop Museum vary in length
from 27 feet to 92 feet. Net makers used a shuttle,
or hi'a, which was a piece of flat wood also employed
as a ruler to make the maka (eyes, or mesh of the net)
a consistent size. Kahu Teves works his shuttle easily,
starting a net at the piko, or center, and tying the
eyes in a circle around it, adding an extra eye, called
pu'umana, at regular intervals to create perfect round
throw nets.
In earlier days, long, rectangular nets were dyed brownish
red with a mixture of ground kukui bark. Long nets were
set into the sea, and the ends were drawn in to form
an arc, a method that has come to be called hukilau,
which is sometimes demonstrated at modern luaus. Schools
of fish could be driven into the net by other fishermen,
or the net might be dragged across the sea to catch
whatever swam by.
Other nets were made in the shape of large bags, called
papa. A bag might be laid on the bottom of the ocean
while a lead fisherman in a canoe above dangled a melomelo
stick, a stick that was rubbed with strong smelling
kukui and coconut meat and burned, which attracted the
fish. When large schools of fish were nibbling on the
stick, the fisherman moved it toward the mouth of the
bag. Divers guided the fish into the net and when it
was full the fisherman in the canoe above tightened
a pull rope that closed the mouth of the bag, so the
divers could lift the catch into the waiting canoes.
Early fishermen also used lures. The cowry lure, or
leho, used to catch octopus continues to be replicated
today. A fisherman held the cord of the lure in one
hand and made it dance in the water, until the octopus
took hold of the cowry, then the fisherman pulled the
cord up swiftly, grabbed the octopus and pulled it against
the side of his canoe, imbedding the lure's hook securely,
so the octopus could be hauled aboard.
During the time of the King Kamehamehas I, II, and
III, pole fishing from canoes for aku was an aristocratic
sport. A lei-bedecked ali'i (chief) with his friends
would go out in a canoe accompanied by a flat canoe,
or malau, drilled full of holes that carried live bait
in the sea water which seeped in. A head fisherman watched
for flocks of birds that gathered over schools of aku
and kawakawa. The water was chummed with baitfish ('iamo).
One man filled his mouth with baitfish, distributing
them to the pole fishermen on demand. The fishermen
held the bamboo poles in their left hands and shook
the 'iamo on their hooks in the water until an aku grabbed
the bait, then the fishermen pulled in their lines,
freed the hooks and tossed the aku into the canoe, repeating
the process until the school of aku moved on to another
locale.
Many ingenious fishing methods existed. Sometimes lures
made of shiny paua shell and pig's hair were used to
fish for aku in much the way fishermen troll for them
today. An unusual bait was made from the roasted ink
sack of a squid mixed with any number of ingredients
such as leaves, flowers, seeds or fruit and mashed to
a paste in a stone mortor called a poho. Hooks for smaller
fish were dipped into this kind of bait. For deep-sea
fishing, multiple hooks made of turtle shell, dog or
human bone or hard wood would be attached to heavy lines.
Spear fishermen added stone or bone points to their
wooden staffs before swimming above a reef or diving
from a canoe in pursuit of their prey. Some fishermen
even caught fish barehanded by thrusting their fists
into holes in the reef. Fishing was truly an art, but
it was an art for the purpose of survival. As one old
Hawaiian saying goes, Aia a kau ka i'ai ka wa'a, mana'o
ke ola. One can think of life after the fish is in the
canoe.
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Story
appeared originally in Coffee Times print magazine and
appears online for archival purposes only. Any use or
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