Photo Courtesy: Anne Innes-Gold. Retrieved from bigislandnow.com
Indigenous aquaculture systems in Hawaiʻi, known as loko iʻa or fishponds, can increase the amount of fish and fisheries harvested both inside and outside of the pond.
This is the focus of a study published by a team of researchers at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology. Today, aquaculture supplies less than 1% of Hawaiʻi’s 70 million pounds of locally available seafood, but revitalization of loko i‘a has the potential to significantly increase locally available seafood.
According to historical accounts, loko i‘a can create surplus fish inside the pond, but their role as a nursery ground seeding surrounding fish populations has received less attention.