Konohiki Days of Maunalua Bay - Sidebar

“While there are many things about the konohiki system that were good, such as the intimate knowledge of the nearshore ecosystem and consistent monitoring of it, we cannot ever forget that we are living in today and not yesteryear where societal and cultural norms were quite different.  At the same time, there is much about the konohiki system that would be undesirable in today’s world, most notable being private control of resources that are supposed to be managed for the benefit of all people of the State of Hawaii. Although there may be a few calling for the wholesale return to the old system, most are cautious when talking about it and know that a similar system, if implemented, must be put into the proper context of managing today.

 Further, many do not realize there were two types of konohiki systems: one prior to the Great Mahele of 1848 and the westernized system that followed, when individuals could buy and own land. Upon purchase, the landowner by default became the konohiki for the waters fronting his lands. This did not necessarily guarantee that the landowner or his designated konohiki was effective or possessed the vast  knowledge of konohiki from the previous system. Some feel this is where greed arose and that some of these so called konohiki, solely by ownership of land, had the power to pick certain species for their own. When the particular specie showed and a call went out to gather fishermen knowledgeable in the art of that particular fish, the fishermen selected were usually the owner’s preferred or those that would pay the greater share. This also explains early accounts of Hawaiian fishermen paying shares to doctors or judges and wealthy foreign landowners.