The goal of the Malama I Ke Kai project is to create a community environmental, cultural and education center that embodies the entire concept of ahupua’a resource management, which is to take care of all living things from the mountains to the ocean. An ahupua’a was a Hawaiian land division system, which contained strips of land that extended from the mountain to the ocean. The ahupua’a supported a self-contained community who worked with a spirit of cooperation of caring and revering both the land and ocean to meet everyone’s needs.

In 1975, Mokauea Island was home to approximately fourteen fishing families. Today, Mokauea Island has only five resident families. The fishpond is invaded by mangrove and debris and silt accumulates through tidal action. Mokauea Island has no viable farming, long thorn kiawe trees invaded the island, invasive gorilla seaweed has overtaken the native limu population, and little healthy fish is available as non-resident fishermen have raided the island’s fishing areas. Mokauea’s families now wake up each day to find garbage and debris at their doorstep, brought to them from O’ahu and other Pacific islands by ocean tides. Broken glass, plastic bags, old TVs, Styrofoam, bike parts, beer cans and plastic bottles are a common sight each day. The irony is that this rubbish is not generated by the families on Mokauea Island but from external sources.

In 2004, Kai Makana made a decision to commit to lead the Malama I Ke Kai project through 2010 and promised to continue to play a part in the restoration and maintenance of Mokauea Island as long as the families living on the island request this assistance. Kai Makana’s goal is to help create an environmental, educational and cultural center where a diverse group of people (students, parents, teachers, etc.) and organizations (educational institutions, non-profits, local businesses, government, etc.) can work together to restore and sustain a tiny island that is considered to be the last island fishing village in the State of Hawai’i. It is our hope that people will view Mokauea Island as a small microcosm of what we, as humans, face environmentally as well as what we can do if we work together to change our environmental climate. Our shared success in reversing adverse environmental impacts on this small island in the midst of a thriving urban environment will demonstrate positive hope for people around the world and improve the quality of life for the Mokauea’s residents.

Kai Makana has already begun implementing the first steps of the Malama I Ke Kai project. Since 2004, numerous schools, non-profit organizations, businesses and local, state and federal agencies have conducted site visits and participated in the restoration process. Kai Makana, along with various organizations, conducts one-day, community educational, outreach projects. These projects included the following:
1) Hawaiian outrigger canoeing and marine debris
This project element is employed to foster cooperation, to travel using a non-fossil fuel vehicle to another island (Mokauea), to give participants first hand exposure to ocean life in the area, and to increase awareness of the types of garbage that find their way into the ocean and allow participants to remove garbage that ultimately lands on Mokauea Island.

2) Water quality testing
Kai Makana educates participants about various facets of the ocean and the near-shore environment. If we have a huge amount of land runoff, testing demonstrates that there is a high level of nutrients and a low level of dissolved oxygen in the seawater, which means that the fish are having a difficult time surviving. Water quality is also being investigated in Mokauea’s fishpond and will provide students with an opportunity to design experiments and projects to characterize and track water quality over extended periods of time.

3) Limu restoration
Limu or seaweed is an essential component of any ocean eco-system. Without it, fish are unable to survive. We have identified several species of native limu and are currently restoring it on the west side of Mokauea Island. In parallel, we are removing the invasive gorilla limu.

4) Long thorn kiawe removal and native Hawaiian planting
Long thorn kiawe (LTK) removal operations began in June 2007. In conjunction with the LTK removal, an initial list of native Hawaiian plants most suitable for Mokauea Island was derived. Stock plots of these plants began in July 2007 with the intent to replace the LTK proliferating along Mokauea’s coastline and interior areas. The propagation of native Hawaiian plants is a major challenge for the project due to the tough environmental conditions existing on Mokauea Island.

5) Fishpond restoration
The fishpond is currently overgrown with mangrove and filled with silt and debris. The ‘auwai (channel) has deteriorated and the makaha (gate) is gone. Kai Makana volunteers have begun to remove the mangrove and invasive limu in the fishpond in an attempt to make it viable again. Future plans include the replacement of the makaha and educational groups have already started investigating water quality within the fishpond.

6) Historical and cultural information
Information regarding Mokauea Island is provided to inform participants that this is our last island fishing village and that we need to restore it or we may become just as extinct as it might become. It is almost a certainty that most residents of O’ahu do not even know that Mokauea Island exists, not to mention its history and cultural and environmental significance. They certainly don’t know that the Ke’ehi Lagoon area was once the home to a large number of fishponds.

7) Canoe hale construction
Another project goal is to construct a hale to protect the wooden canoe dating back to 1877.

Various public and private schools are interested in coming to the island and learning the traditional ways of fishing villages. This knowledge is almost forgotten and there are not many people left to teach the ways of the native Hawaiians. The University of Hawaii Center for Hawaiian Studies is also interested in putting a navigational education component on the island and assisting with fishpond restoration. Several canoe clubs and non-profit organizations utilize the area across from Mokauea Island and have entered into an agreement to care for this island. They are also looking at conducting educational programs for these canoes clubs on Mokauea Island on a regular basis. To date over 1,500 volunteers have given up their time and effort to help make Mokauea island an educational and cultural center. Volunteers will continue to work on Mokauea Island, funds will be raised through grassroots efforts, and at the end of 2010, funding and leadership roles will transfer to the University of Hawaii.