A Kauaʻi nonprofit is the proud new owner of the island’s largest remaining Hawaiian fishpond known as Alakoko Fishpond. The group Mālama Hulēʻia has spent the last four years restoring the property but ran into trouble earlier this year when the landowner put the fishpond up for sale. HPR’s Kuʻuwehi Hiraishi reports.
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Kaua i Non-Profit Rallies to Buy, Restore 600-Year-Old Hawaiian Fishpond
The 600-year-old Alakoko Fishpond on Kauaʻi was once the most productive fishpond in Nāwiliwili. Thousands of community volunteers have mobilized over the past two and a half years to restore that bounty. The charge is being led by the local non-profit Mālama Hulēʻia.
“We’ve removed 26 acres of mangrove and planted about five acres of plants and just been doing a lot of education about fishponds and it’s importance,” says Peleke Flores, Operations and Community Outreach Manager at Mālama Hulēʻia.
The group has been working under a 20-year lease with the current landowner. But now that the land’s up for sale, Mālama Hulēʻia Executive Director Sara Bowen sees an opportunity.