Media release | Sierra Club, Moku Loa groupDiverse paradigms from Hawaiian and Western aquaculture will be presented by Michael Kumukauoha Lee, a cultural practitioner from O’ahu, and Christina Lizzi from Food and Water Watch (FWW), Washington, D.C., on Sunday, February 13, from 6 to 8 PM at Kea’au Community Center. Information from another approach, Friendly Aquaponics of Honoka’a, will also be available. Sierra Club, Moku Loa group is sponsoring the event.

Lee, a cultural practitioner of la’au o ke kai (medicine of the sea), calls Hawaiian fishponds “the heiau of the ocean ” and sees the heavens, mountains, and sea as linked together. He says he will speak of “the places where the magic begins” with the relationship between limu (seaweed),  invertebrates, turtles, fishes, and ‘opae (shrimp), all creatures working together to create an abundance of life.

Lizzi will speak about the risks of open-ocean fish farms, like Kona Blue and the ahi farm planned off Kohala.  She says, “in Hawai`i, there is a push to develop industrial-scale ocean fish farms catering to high-end seafood markets on the Mainland and Japan, and threatening to disrupt the marine environment without giving much back to the State’s people–but there are alternatives, like land-based recirculating aquaculture systems, aquaponics and loko i`a, community-scaled farms that can lead the way to food security in Hawai`i.”

 The event is free and open to the public. Contact person is Cory Harden at 968-8965.