Kaʻū News Briefs, Saturday, June 15, 2019

     The Nā Kalai Waʻa crew launched from Kawaihae and passed Mahukona on the northwest side of Hawaiʻi Island on a 30 day journey aboard the traditional Polynesian Voyaging Society canoe Makaliʻi. The two voyaging groups will meet to conduct cultural training, research, and protocol in the Marine Monument.

Upright wayfinding stones at a temple on Mokumanamana with  frigate birds nesting. Photo from NOAA

     Office of Hawaiian Affairs CEO/Ka Pouhana released a statement saying OHA is "proud to kōkua the efforts of Nā Kalai Waʻa and Edith Kanakaʻole Foundation in creating the next generation of Hawaiian wayfinders and furthering our cultural understanding and connections to Papahānaumokuākea. We wish the voyagers favorable weather, calm waters, and the best of luck. The ʻike they will return with will have a profound impact on the cultural foundation of our Lāhui moving forward."

      Mokumanamana (Necker Island) is a remote and rugged 46-acre island where the voyagers gain "insight into traditional concepts of time, space, the geological creation of the islands, and the way our kūpuna connected all the islands in Hawaiʻi together. The Nā Kalai Waʻa voyagers will lend their wayfinding expertise to assist Edith Kanakaole Foundation with better understanding the alignments of 33 cultural sites on Mokumanamana to stars and other celestial phenomenon during and around the Summer Solstice on June 21," says the OHA statement.

     The Nā Kalai Waʻa voyage, called Hanaunaola, is the capstone of a three-year grant from the Administration for Native Americans. The grant helped Nā Kalai Waʻa members grow and preserve their own food to provision all 14 voyagers for the full length of the journey. The sail is the first time in 200 years that the route from the heiau Koʻa Holomoana in Mahukona in Kohala on Hawaiʻi Island to Mokumanamana has been used to train new wayfinders and voyagers. This voyaging route was a traditional test for apprentice navigators, says the OHA statement.
         Ceremonial sites on Mokumanamana may represent the highest concentration of heiau in the Hawaiian archipelago, with 52 archaeological sites identified, including 33 basalt upright shrines. They are believed to be  celestially oriented, rising from stone alters and tied to Polynesian navigating by stars.

Dr. Pua Kanahele is on board the research ship headed for Papahānaumokuākea. Photo from OHA

      Keola Linday, OHA'S Chief Advoctae said: "As a co-trustee of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument with the specific kuleana of advocating for Native Hawaiian interests in the co-management of the area, OHA is honored to have a part in helping our beneficiaries with fiscal support as well as in working through the permitting and other requirements to enter the monument. Our goal is to assure that our people have the ability to access the area to conduct activities that perpetuate our cultural and traditional connections to these Kūpuna Islands."
     Established by presidential proclamation in 2006, Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument is the largest contiguous fully protected conservation area in the United States, and one of the largest marine conservation areas in the world. The OHA statement says that "the monument is cooperatively managed to ensure ecological integrity and achieve strong, long-term protection and perpetuation of Northwestern Hawaiian Island ecosystems, Native Hawaiian culture, and heritage resources for current and future generations."

     Four co-trustees – the U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Department of the Interior, State of Hawai‘i and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs – are assigned to protect Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. It was inscribed as the first mixed (natural and cultural) UNESCO World Heritage Site in the United States in July 2010.