![\"Kanoe](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/260628-kf-Haena-Community-Fishing-0247.jpg\")
Kanoe Alapa\u2018i-Hashimoto pulls in his catch of manini in H\u0101\u02bbena on Kaua\u02bbi\u2019s North Shore. (Kevin Fujii\/Civil Beat\/2026)<\/p>\nTen years in, Native Hawaiian fishermen, North Shore nonprofit leaders and scientists are encouraged by what they see in the state\u2019s first Community-Based Subsistence Fishing Area.<\/p>\n
Ten years in, Native Hawaiian fishermen, North Shore nonprofit leaders and scientists are encouraged by what they see in the state\u2019s first Community-Based Subsistence Fishing Area.<\/p>\n
Kanoe Alapa\u2018i-Hashimoto pulls in his catch of manini in H\u0101\u02bbena on Kaua\u02bbi\u2019s North Shore. (Kevin Fujii\/Civil Beat\/2026)<\/p>\n
Waves gently roll over a reef in H\u0101\u2018ena as Kanoe Alapa\u2018i-Hashimoto and his father, Keli\u2018i Alapa\u2018i, search for limu in the ankle-deep water with fishing nets wrapped around their waists and shoulders. The seaweed is food for manini, a small light-greenish yellow fish with black stripes.<\/p>\n
Alapa\u2018i-Hashimoto looks to his left where the water ripples, a sign of the fish grazing on the reef\u2019s edge. He spends the next 15 minutes treading lightly, mindful that his shadow and footsteps won\u2019t scare the fish, before throwing his net, which spirals out and sinks.<\/p>\n
When he pulls it up, it reveals that he caught a dozen manini \u2013 enough to feed his family.<\/p>\n
![\"Kanoe](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/260628-kf-Haena-Community-Fishing-0408-1024x682.jpg\")
Manini, or convict tang, are known to graze on limu on H\u0101\u2018ena\u2019s shallow reefs. (Kevin Fujii\/Civil Beat\/2026)<\/p>\n
Alapa\u2018i-Hashimoto and Alapa\u2018i are lawai\u2018a, or subsistence fishermen, who practice as their k\u016bpuna taught them. That means taking only what they need, using traditional techniques such as throwing net, and being mindful of how their activities impact the nearshore ecosystem. The ocean has been their family\u2019s icebox for generations.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou take care of the ocean like you will take care of your little child,\u201d Alapa\u2018i said.<\/p>\n
Eleven years ago, they and other community members got H\u0101\u2018ena\u2019s waters from the shoreline to 1 mile offshore designated as a Community-Based Subsistence Fishing Area to protect the resource for future generations and return to traditional resource management.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve seen quite a bit of fish that\u2019s come back \u2014 you know, moi, mullet, we get palani, kala, akule \u2014 those are really the main fish that we grew up on,\u201d Alapa\u2018i said. \u201cBut as far as population wise, since the CBSFA took effect, it\u2019s amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Data that scientists have been gathering over the past decade preliminarily show that fish populations appear to be healthier and more diverse.<\/p>\n
CBSFAs are one of several marine management tools in the state but are unique in that they\u2019re designed to protect and perpetuate Native Hawaiian fishing practices and values. Getting the first CBSFA established meant overcoming opposition from<\/a> commercial fishermen who argued that the designation\u2019s rules compromised their livelihoods and, more recently, a legislative attempt <\/a>to restrict its lifespan.<\/p>\n Now, many other communities around the state are hoping to follow H\u0101\u2018ena\u2019s model.<\/p>\n Level The Playing Field<\/p>\n Located in the northern moku, or district, of Halele\u2018a, H\u0101\u2018ena is home to towering cliffs, verdant valleys and reefs that stretch across almost the entire length of the ahupua\u2018a, or land division from the uplands to the sea. He\u2018e (octopus), nenue (chub fish), kala (unicorn fish), manini (convict tang) and many other species reside in the nearshore waters.<\/p>\n Those nearshore waters comprise the state\u2019s first permanent CBSFA, a marine area that\u2019s co-managed by the local community and the state Department of Land and Natural Resource\u2019s Division of Aquatic Resources.<\/p>\n Communities were granted the ability to pursue this designation under a 2005 law after Mo\u2018omomi on Moloka\u2018i piloted it in the 1990s. In addition to H\u0101\u2018ena, Miloli\u2018i on Hawai\u2018i island and K\u012bp\u0101hulu on Maui also have CBSFAs.<\/p>\n Anyone can fish in H\u0101\u2018ena so long as they follow the CBSFA\u2019s rules<\/a>, which were informed by how the community\u2019s k\u016bpuna, or ancestors, fished. Don\u2019t use spear guns, don\u2019t sell the fish or marine life you take from the area, don\u2019t go night diving when the fish are asleep, and abide by bag limits for certain species, among other rules.<\/p>\n Using three-prong spears, instead of spear guns that can pierce fish from feet away, helps \u201clevel the playing field more, right? The fish have a better chance of escaping,\u201d said Chipper Wichman, a lineal descendent and founding member of Hui Maka\u2018\u0101ina o Makana.<\/p>\n The nonprofit spent 10 years leading the community\u2019s push for the CBSFA, holding over 60 community meetings and going through more than 10 rounds of rule revisions and agency review. Today, the group manages the area with the support of the state.<\/p>\n Another rule is specific to octopus, which make its homes on the reef by fortifying natural crevices with discarded shells or rocks. Spears would destroy the home, so fishermen can only use sticks to tease the he\u2018e out \u2014 preserving the home for another he\u2018e to occupy.<\/p>\n Alapa\u2018i, who grew up in H\u0101\u2018ena and is the hui\u2019s former vice president, said some people would also set nets in the water and leave them unattended overnight, which wasted a lot of fish. Many people, he said, want to take more fish than they can eat.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s the whole idea of this \u2013 take what you need,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Early Trends In Fish Abundance<\/p>\n Alapa\u2018i-Hashimoto and Alapa\u2018i can tell what fish are in the water and how many just by observing the water. But as they approach the shoreline, they also take note of the \u2018\u014dhiki, or sand crabs, that leave piles of sand on the beach, what the coral looks like, and whether any limu is growing.<\/p>\n That\u2019s because their k\u016bpuna taught them that everything in the marine ecosystem is connected. Even if he doesn\u2019t catch any fish, it\u2019s enough to know that he\u2019s seeing signs of a healthy ecosystem, said Alapa\u2018i-Hashimoto as his reef shoe-covered toes touched the water.<\/p>\n He represents his family on the hui\u2019s \u2018ohana council, which is made up of the families who lived in H\u0101\u2018ena prior to 1955. Between 1875 and 1955, a group called Hui Ku\u02bbai o H\u0101\u02bbena, made up of 38 Native Hawaiian families from the area, owned the entire ahupua\u2018a. The council sets the guiding directives and principles for the group\u2019s board and staff.<\/p>\n The CBSFA is meant to bring back the abundance of fish that their k\u016bpuna saw when they were growing up \u2014 such as larger schools of bigger-sized fish and bigger fish coming to shore more frequently.<\/p>\n Wichman said those large schools disappeared as people from other parts of the island caught them with large nets and boats in the 1970s and as dozens of commercial tour boats operated out of Hanalei Bay in the \u201880s and \u201890s. Those boats left oily films that damaged H\u0101\u2018ena\u2019s nearshore fishery and limu on their way to the N\u0101pali coast, Wichman said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we saw was this over-extraction from our resource and our k\u016bpuna telling us, you know, \u2018When we were growing up, when we were fishing, we never had this,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n H\u0101\u2018ena received its CBSFA designation in 2015<\/a>. In its first five-year review<\/a>, which focused on 2016 to 2020, researchers with the Hawai\u2018i Institute for Marine Biology and DLNR found that the number of fish, fish species and fish biomass were consistently higher inside the CBSFA compared to outside it. The pu\u2018uhonua, or protected fish nursery, also saw increases in fish density and biomass.<\/p>\n However, the record-setting April 2018 storm negatively affected<\/a> the number of fish and sea urchins and caused more coral bleaching that year.<\/p>\n Heather Ylitalo-Ward, Kaua\u2018i district biologist with DAR, said the Kaua\u2018i DAR team is still conducting fish surveys for the CBSFA\u2019s second assessment, which will cover from 2016 to 2026. It hopes to publish in the late fall.<\/p>\n She said it\u2019s too early to share exactly what their data has found, but her team has seen fish and coral that they don\u2019t normally see in other parts of the island and general high fish abundance. She added that it takes at least 10 years \u2014 but more likely 30 \u2013 for trends to be detected in most marine protected areas around the world.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first five years were showing a positive trend, so we\u2019re hopeful that things will continue in that way,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Some of H\u0101\u2018ena\u2019s fishermen and community members have their own anecdotes, like seeing more akule, or bigeye scad, coming into the shallow, nearshore reef instead of staying in deeper waters, and once again seeing some larger schools of fish in general, rather than just a few here and there.<\/p>\n Wichman said he\u2019ll snorkel at Makua, commonly known as Tunnels, and see lots of fish coming out of the pu\u2018uhonua on the inside of the reef.<\/p>\n \u201cThe abundance on the outside of that reef is remarkable,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s really working.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018There\u2019s A Heavy Kuleana\u2019<\/p>\n Many eyes are on the H\u0101\u2018ena community because it\u2019s the first CBSFA.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you\u2019re the first, there\u2019s a heavy kuleana that rests on your shoulders, because if you don\u2019t succeed, you\u2019ve just slammed the door shut for everybody who wants to follow,\u201d Wichman said.<\/p>\n But being the first also comes with its own set of difficulties, such as figuring out monitoring and enforcement and managing the resource in a truly adaptive way.<\/p>\n The hui\u2019s community monitoring has gone through different iterations as they learn what works best for their people and resources. Emily Cadiz, the group\u2019s education specialist and community liaison, said it\u2019s hard for the community to sustain monitoring efforts alone, so partnerships, such as the one the hui has with DAR to do fish surveys, are essential.<\/p>\n Some monitoring is also done by the hui\u2019s Makai Watch coordinator, who is working on training up volunteers. Makai Watch<\/a> is a program under DLNR that helps state officials keep tabs on unlawful fishing on the coasts.<\/p>\n They\u2019ll document the number of people within the CBSFA and the activities they do, whether it\u2019s snorkeling, foil boarding or laying on the beach. They\u2019ll also catalogue the marine resources they see, like fish, limu and monk seals, and help educate visitors and community members about the CBSFA.<\/p>\n That monitoring can eventually help inform conversations about whether any of the CBSFA\u2019s rules need to change. Billy Kinney, a lineal descendent and assistant director for the hui, said the goal is for the CBSFA area to be adaptively managed \u2014 like instituting rest periods on \u2018\u014dpihi or other resources based on the trends they\u2019re seeing.<\/p>\n The hui would need to go through the same, extensive process it went through to establish the CBSFA\u2019s rules to make any changes. That process requires public hearings and reviews by the state Department of the Attorney General, governor and mayor.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was set up to be adaptive, but the system is still not adaptive,\u201d Cadiz said.<\/p>\n Being on the North Shore, H\u0101\u2018ena\u2019s waters get rougher in the winter, which helps enforce the CBSFA. But the calmer waves in the summer sometimes invite unwanted behavior.<\/p>\n No individuals or vessels are allowed to enter the pu\u2018uhonua without a permit, and boats with prohibited fishing gear must stay 1,000 feet to 2,300 feet offshore, outside the vessel transit boundary. But some recreational boats still come too close, and people sometimes swim into the pu\u2018uhonua.<\/p>\n Christopher Gandeza, assistant chief for the Kaua\u02bbi district of Division of Conservation and Resource Enforcement \u2014 or DOCARE \u2014 said in an email that officers must catch boaters in restricted areas. Sometimes, they\u2019ll respond to a call, but the boaters will have left by the time they arrive. Officers can investigate, but only if they have leads, like the vessel registration number.<\/p>\n Wichman said the hui has talked with commercial boaters who, in the past, drove through an area in the CBSFA where akule like to gather. The boaters were happy to avoid the akule when the hui asked.<\/p>\n But it\u2019s been harder to educate recreational boaters who may only spend a day in H\u0101\u2018ena in the summer. The hui has been talking with DAR about putting up buoys around the pu\u2018uhonua with signs to tell boaters and people it\u2019s a protected area.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s a tough one because you can\u2019t expect recreational boaters to really understand that and know about that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Gandeza added that the community\u2019s involvement in educating ocean users about the CBSFA\u2019s rules has meant fewer violations.<\/p>\n \u201cThe need for DOCARE enforcement has been reduced because now they have community education and people know that the H\u0101\u2018ena community is watching them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Opening The Door<\/p>\n The fact that H\u0101\u2018ena\u2019s CBSFA has persisted has opened the door for other communities interested in the designation or other forms of community-based management, Wichman said. The hui also manages H\u0101\u2018ena State Park with another nonprofit and the Division of State Parks.<\/p>\n Hui members say over a dozen other fishing communities around the state are considering pursuing CBSFAs. One effort aims to designate East Maui\u2019s Ko\u2018olau, H\u0101na, K\u012bpahulu and Kaup\u014d moku, or land divisions, as a single CBSFA<\/a>.<\/p>\n DLNR manages Hawai\u2018i\u2019s 1.3 million acres of public lands, beaches and coastal waters and 750 miles of coastline with roughly 1.6% of the state operating budget.<\/p>\n Wichman said the CBSFA movement is also bolstered by the recent passage of a law that enables<\/a> the Board of Land and Natural Resources to enter into co-management agreements of up to 65 years with community-based organizations.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019ll give it new leverage and give communities more of an equal say in terms of how their resources are managed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Kinney sits in the shade by the hui\u2019s lo\u2018i just minutes from K\u0113\u2018\u0113 Beach. Coming from a fishing family and a fisherman himself, he said the CBSFA shows how important it is for Hawai\u2018i to have communities co-manage the resources they\u2019ve relied on and have stewarded for generations.<\/p>\n For H\u0101\u2018ena specifically, the CBSFA has been a mechanism to ensure that the area\u2019s families continue to have fish on their tables, but it\u2019s also had the benefit of educating people \u2014 both from in and outside the region \u2014 about traditional practices.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019re providing food for the tables of families, if you\u2019re changing and making fishermen and the general public more aware of traditional resource management practices specific to place,\u201d he said, \u201cyou hit two of the biggest objectives of a CBSFA.\u201d <\/p>\n Civil Beat\u2019s reporting on Kaua\u02bbi is supported in part by a grant from the G. N. Wilcox Trust. Civil Beat\u2019s coverage of climate change and the environment is supported by The Healy Foundation, the Marisla Fund of the Hawai\u2018i Community Foundation and the Frost Family Foundation. \u201cHawai\u2018i Grown<\/a>\u201d is funded in part by grants from the Stupski Foundation, Ulupono Fund at the Hawai\u2018i Community Foundation and the Frost Family Foundation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ten years in, Native Hawaiian fishermen, North Shore nonprofit leaders and scientists are encouraged by what they see…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":781562,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":["post-781561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/781561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=781561"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/781561\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/781562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=781561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=781561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=781561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Keli\u2018i](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/260628-kf-Haena-Community-Fishing-0097.jpg\")
Keli\u2018i Alapa\u2018i scans below the surface of H\u0101\u02bbena\u2019s nearshore waters. (Kevin Fujii\/Civil Beat\/2026)<\/p>\n![\"Kanoe](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/260628-kf-Haena-Community-Fishing-0345-1188x1573.jpg\")
Kanoe Alapa\u2018i-Hashimoto uses a net made by his grandfather, Tommy Hashimoto. He said he\u2019s careful with where he throws it because his grandfather is no longer around to show him how to make it. (Kevin Fujii\/Civil Beat\/2026)<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/260628-kf-Haena-Community-Fishing-0386-1188x792.jpg\")
A Hawaiian monk seal surfaces by H\u0101\u2018ena\u2019s shoreline. (Kevin Fujii\/Civil Beat\/2026)<\/p>\n![\"Keli\u2018i](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/260628-kf-Haena-Community-Fishing-0021.jpg\")
Lawai\u2018a (subsistence fisherman) Keli\u2018i Alapa\u2018i checks the algae growing in a freshwater stream mouth in H\u0101\u2018ena. Various types of limu, or seaweed, will attract certain fish. (Kevin Fujii\/Civil Beat\/2026)<\/p>\n![\"Keli\u2018i](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/260628-kf-Haena-Community-Fishing-0210-1024x682.jpg\")
Keli\u2018i Alapa\u2018i yells to his son, Kanoe, after catching a few manini, or convict tang, in H\u0101\u02bbena. (Kevin Fujii\/Civil Beat\/2026)<\/p>\n![\"Keli\u2018i](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/260628-kf-Haena-Community-Fishing-0162.jpg\")
Keli\u2018i Alapa\u2018i, who grew up in H\u0101\u2018ena, said he used to see more fish in the ahupua\u2018a\u2019s waters when he was a child. (Kevin Fujii\/Civil Beat\/2026)<\/p>\n![\"Keli\u2018i](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/260628-kf-Haena-Community-Fishing-0284-1024x834.jpg\")
Keli\u2018i Alapa\u2018i, left, tells his son, Kanoe Alapa\u2018i-Hashimoto, about the large fish he almost caught while Kanoe untangles some of the manini in his net. (Kevin Fujii\/Civil Beat\/2026)<\/p>\n![\"Keli\u2018i](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/260628-kf-Haena-Community-Fishing-0080.jpg\")
H\u0101\u2018ena lawai\u2018a Keli\u2018i Alapa\u2018i and other members of Hui Maka\u2018ainana o Makana spent 10 years working with the community and state to create the Community-Based Subsistence Fishing Area. (Kevin Fujii\/Civil Beat\/2026)<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.civilbeat.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Haena_CBSFA-640x389.avif\")
This map shows where vessels can transit within the fishing area. (Screenshot: Hui Maka\u2018\u0101inana o Makana)<\/p>\n![\"N\u0113n\u0113](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/260628-kf-Haena-Community-Fishing-0371-1024x682.jpg\")
N\u0113n\u0113 fly over H\u0101\u02bbena as lawai\u2018a Keli\u2018i Alapa\u2018i and Kanoe Alapa\u2018i-Hashimoto fish on a Sunday morning. (Kevin Fujii\/Civil Beat\/2026)<\/p>\n![\"Civil](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/260628-kf-Haena-Community-Fishing-0073-1024x682.jpg\")
Mount M\u0101kana stands tall behind H\u0101\u2018ena\u2019s reefs. (Kevin Fujii\/Civil Beat\/2026)<\/p>\n