The sky was dark and overcast, but the gloomy weather belied the team's excitement.
The sky was dark and overcast, but the gloomy weather belied the team's excitement.
It was mid-morning in May, and the volunteers and staff at Heʻeia Fishpond in Kāneʻohe, Oʻahu paused their efforts clearing the fishpond's invasive mangrove and headed towards the lower grounds of Heʻeia State Park.
As the team crossed the narrow stream separating the fishpond from the park, a flatbed truck slowly reversed towards the water's edge. Its payload: a cylindrical container holding hundreds of juvenile ʻamaʻama, or Hawaiian striped mullet, which were born and raised in a hatchery at Hawaiʻi Pacific University's Oceanic Institute (OI).
"ʻAmaʻama were once the food of the people," explained Keliʻi Kotubetey, cofounder and assistant executive director of the non-profit Paepae o Heʻeia, which manages the fishpond and is actively trying to restore it to its former glory.
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Image via NOAA.
