Papa ku'i 'ai & 'Opae
Hopefully soon I'll post more photos from the
Kipahulu 'Ohana's Kapahu
Living Farm that I took Wednesday, but for now I thought this was a nice shot to
share. The group that was visiting learned to pound poi the traditional way, and
afterwards the board was put under the pipe where the water flows into the
farm.Another
very cool and important thing was happening here, also—the young 'opae
have been migrating upstream. This day there were relatively few left, but a
few days before this, there were thousands of them climbing up the side here
into this pipe. These little shrimps, maybe 1/2 inch long, migrate all the way
from the ocean, up the stream, climb up the side of the cliff where our 'auwai
flows back down into the stream, then pass through the lo'i, and amazingly climb
up into the pipe and follow it all the way back to the stream, which is quite a
ways. This is so important because the 'opae are one of the creatures whose life
cycle includes both the ocean and the fresh water streams, the living embodiment
of how the 'ahupua'a extends out into the ocean as part of one whole ecosystem.
Here you can see a few of them we scooped up in the
bowl.
Posted: Fri - July 14, 2006 at 08:50 AM