Aquaculture & Over Fishing By: Dj Lauser and Bricen Hue

So What is Aquaculture? Aquaculture is growing plants or animals in salt, fresh or brackish water, It has been practiced with Hawaiian islanders and the Polynesians over 1000 years ago. Basically aquaculture is the science of fish farming. Open ocean aquaculture is like a farm in the ocean. Like the image seen below, only a few operate around the Hawaiian Islands. Aquaculture is the logical choice to preserve marine life.

Why Is It So Important We Have Aquaculture In Hawaii? The ancient Hawaiian Islanders made and farmed only what was essential to survive, but now, due to the high demand from consumers, the fish population has been decreasing. Over 50 million pounds of fish are eaten annually by Hawaii alone. It’s important that we restore more of the fish population before most fish species become rare or even extinct. Hawaii has a perfect climate for aquaculture locations, so we should use that as an advantage.

Did You Know? Interesting Facts About Aquaculture -Back in Ancient Hawaii they had fishponds called makaha -Fish ponds, unlike the ocean, are controlled environments and are almost completely man-made. What goes in and what comes out can be completely controlled and monitored. So the fish farmed there are free of pollutants. -The fish in those fishponds can also be fed a lot more than what they could manage to get in the ocean, and thus this would generally result in better fish harvests. -For ancient Hawaii fishponds were used as the the focal point for the ritual and supernatural forces that were vital to ancient life.

Life Without Aquaculture… Without fish farms and aquaculture, fish species will become endangered and in worse cases extinct. Fish population would be decreasing tremendously over time and fishermen and commercial fishers who live their life catching and selling fish wouldn’t be very successful because there would be less fish in the ocean and may take a while to catch just one fish. Life In Hawaii Would Definitely Not Be Pono (good).

So What Is Over Fishing? Well most states in America have fishing laws, one example of a fishing law is, you must return the sea creature that’s caught if it doesn’t meet the standards of the minimum size. These laws are to help the fish populations to be healthy and so no sea creatures are in risks of being extinct. A very common law states that you can’t go over a specific quantity of fish.

Fishing… Over The Limit, Under The Fish Population Satisfaction Drastic fishing in the United States, especially in Hawaii, has caused many species of fish to become endangered. Because of this, there are now laws and regulations on fishing in Hawaii and on coastlines in the United States. These laws help make sure fish species don’t become extinct. Gone

Some Fishing Laws On Oahu In Waialua Bay it is prohibited To take any illegal size fish in season with one line, or one rod and line, with more than two hooks. The “Uhu” or Spectacled Parrotfish, can be caught if it is larger than twelve inches long. Anything smaller than twelve inches is breaking the over-fishing laws. At Pokai Bay it is illegal to be using fishing nets that are more then two feet in diameter. It is strictly prohibited to take the State Fish, the Humuhumunukunukuapua`a.

What Is The Difference of The Hawaiian Methods of Catching Fish Comparing To Today’s? As you see, as we progressed through life tools became more easier to use and catch fish with. The ancient Hawaiian islanders were very resourceful because they would make their own tools with the limited resources around them. Hawaiian tools Examples: -Spears made out of wood (whatever type was indigenous of the area.)  For the tips, they used  Metal, copper in particular, was a popular tip as was bone -nets Modern tools Examples: -Spear guns and harpoons -Throw nets just made out of different material. Fish rods Fish Cages

In Conclusion Aquaculture Aquaculture had been in Hawaii since the Ancient Islanders years ago and it’s a really efficient to preserve marine life. Over Fishing Over fishing is a problem all over the world and if continued can be a really big problem towards the future. In conclusion, Hawaii needs more aquaculture farms, and should enforce fishing laws so in the future everything would be alright.

Thanks For Watching! Mahalo! (Thanks)