Hawaiian Fishing Traditions

Hawaiian Fishing Traditions celebrates the great fishers of ancient Hawai'i, known for attracting and propagating fish, inventing fishing techniques, and bringing in extraordinary catches. The most famous of these fishers was Ku'ula-kai, who became deified as an 'aumakua (god) of fishing because of his power to control fish. He built a fishpond in Hana to keep the ali'i and the people continuously supplied with seafood. His son 'Ai'ai continued his father's good work by locating offshore fishing grounds called ko'a, teaching people how to catch fish, and telling them to practice conservation and to distribute the catch generously. He estabished fishing shrines, also called ko'a, and told fishers to offer the first fish to his father and mother as thanks-giving, to insure a good supply, and to lift the kapu on the catch and free it for consumption.