Cultural significance of the Loko Kuapa
The cultural significance of my pond is that it is only unique in Hawai’i; you can not find the Loko Kuapa anywhere else in the world. This pond was used as a renewable food resource that produced fish. The Loko Kuapa was basically only built by the men, they moved all the rocks and done everything within the walls. The women couldn’t go within the wall or touch any part of the pond; their job was to pick the limu for the men to use for the construction of the pond. The harvesting could take place in two ways, in one way, two men would on the wall near the gate holding up a net, they would wait for the tides push towards the gate, then they would throw pieces of taro in the water to attract the fish to one spot, then they would throw the net over the fish to capture them. The other way to harvest them would be using the pa’i pa’i technique. Let’s say there are some big fish in the corner being stubborn about coming out, two men would stand with a net, and the third would beat the water to scare them out so the other two men could throw the net over the fish. Pa’i Pa’i means to beat.
Location: This pond is the only pond that would be all the way in the ocean, the rest of the ponds would be like half way in the ocean and half on land. This pond would be in the shore of the ocean.
Construction
My fish pond was constructed by a human chain starting from the mountain to the ocean. Up in the mountains, they would gather lava rock and move it to the ocean by the human chain. The rocks would be placed very strategically with bigger rocks forming the foundation of the pond. Smaller rocks and rubble were used to fill in the gaps in the wall and to make sure the rocks in the wall would stay in place. They would build the height of the Kuapa (wall) as high as the year’s highest tides to prevent fish from escaping the pond. The wall was designed to allow waster to permeate through the rocks and circulate in the fish pond. The Makaha or the gate would be the thing that would let the small fish in and it would keep the bigger fish trapped within the Loko Kuapa. It was built by bounding the wooden gate with cordage leaving a half inch gap between the wooden pieces.
Important characteristic: Makaha- it was a gate that was designed to let the smaller fish fit through it and make the bigger fish stuck in the pond. Every fish pond has one of these.
Supplies: Lava rock, coral, and coralline algae.
This is my visual aid of a loko kuapa I made from play dough.
This is the barracuda, one of the fish you can find in the Loko Kuapa. The Hawaiian name for this fish is the Kaku.
This is seaweed or limu, you can find this plant on the walls of the loko kuapa. This was used as a kind of cement of the wall.
This is the flag tail fish, its Hawaiian name is the Aholehole. This is one of the fish that the old Hawaiians use to collect from the loko Kuapa.
This is the Threadfish, in Hawaiian, it is called the Moi. These fish happen to be very small, they can grow up to be about 165 cm. This fish can also be found in the Loko Kuapa.
This fish is called the Jack fish. The Hawaiian name for this fish is the Papio. This fish can be about 10 pounds in weight.
This is my food web. It starts out from the seaweed, the seaweed gets it's energy from the sun in a process called photosynthesis, then the small fish comes and eats the seaweed, then the bigger fish eats the smaller fish and so on and so fourth. The top of this food chain would be the barracuda.
