Kepa Maly
In a traditional Hawaiian context, nature and culture are one and the same, there is no division between the two. The wealth and limitations of the land and ocean resources gave birth to, and shaped the Hawaiian world view. The ?aina (land), wai (water), kai (ocean), and lewa (sky) were the foundation of life and the source of the spiritual relationship between people and their environs. Every aspect of life, whether in the sky, on land, or of the waters was believed to have been the physical body-forms assumed by the creative forces of nature, and the greater and lesser gods and goddesses of the Hawaiian people. Respect and care for nature, in turn meant that nature would care for the people. Thus, Hawaiian culture, for the most part, evolved in a healthy relationship with the nature around it, and until the arrival of foreigners on Hawaiian shores, the health and well-being of the people was reflected in the health of nature around them. Today, whether looking to the sea and fisheries, or to the flat lands and mountains, or to the condition of the people, it is all too easy to find signs of stress and diminishing health of Hawaiian nature and the native culture. As will be seen in this study, this is clearly evident in the condition of Hawaiian fisheries, which traditionally extended from the kuahiwi–kualono (mountains), to the kai popolohua a Kane (the deep purple-blue seas of the god Kane).
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