Protecting kahakai = terrorism?

Check this out. This situation is finally getting some press, but it has been brewing and getting pretty heavy for weeks.

The Maui News has an article on police investigations into what amounts to the assertion of 'ahupua'a rights here in East Maui:

WAILUKU – Police have consulted with federal authorities and are asking for the public’s help as they investigate reports that fishers, hunters and opihi pickers have been threatened and told to leave areas from Keanae to Kaupo.

A group has posted signs, apparently in an attempt to regulate fishing, hunting, diving and the selling of real estate in the coastal region, according to information developed by police.

From the end of the article:

Police said they have consulted with the local office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and are looking into the possibility that the group may be categorized as a domestic terrorist organization.

A little background, the Eastside Hui is a so-far unincorporated group (of which I am a member, along with well over 100 other people in East Maui) that posted signs, but seeking only to educate both within the community and those who come in from outside about proper use of the resources. They have a code of conduct that includes obeying fish and game laws and behaving in a courteous fashion. They are also promoting the idea that a proper protocol is to connect with someone local when you come in to fish, but they haven't been actually enforcing that, just saying that it is common courtesy and trying to raise awareness. They have been actively working with DLNR (which has less than one full time person for enforcement on the entire East Maui region) and trying to do things in as constructive a manner as possible.

There are other people who are not acting with approval or on behalf of the Eastside Hui who are taking aggressive and according to the occupation system probably illegal actions. This has created a very hostile and tense environment between East Maui and fisherman and hunters from other parts of the island. I hear rumors of folks carrying guns to go fishing, for example.

On one hand, in a community where many people depend on the ocean and forest as their icebox on a daily basis, many understandably see outsiders who come in to take the resource as in essence taking food out of their refrigerators. According to state and federal law, everyone has the same right to fish and hunt, but here in East Maui, the sense of 'ahupua'a is still intact under the surface, with the feeling that there is a kuleana (right and a responsibility) to regulate the use and protect the resource for the future of the tenants of that 'ahupua'a, and that of course includes out into the ocean.

On the other hand, when that kuleana is asserted in a certain manner, the reaction under occupation is that seeking to protect the kahakai could be "domestic terrorism."

Be careful out there.

Posted: Tue - June 14, 2005 at 03:48 PM

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Protecting kahakai = terrorism?

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