Marine Resource Management in the Hawaiian Archipelago: The Traditional Hawaiian System in Relation to the Western Approach

Table 1

Comparisons between major aspects of “Traditional Hawaiian” and “Western” management systems in Hawai‘i for inshore reef fisheries.

Management component	Western management system	Traditional Hawaiian management system
(1) Authority	Federal, state, and local laws and regulations implemented by various agencies or departments.	Ali‘i (chiefs)
(2) Access rights	Reef held in common, equal access to all.	Inhabitants of the ahupua‘a (district) in consultation with Ali‘i. Limited access by permission from chiefs and local villagers.
(3) Managers-stewardship	Trained professionals in multiple government agencies with responsibilities defined by law.	Konohiki (district manager) appointed by Ali‘i.
(4) Enforcement	Generally weak and inconsistent due to concern for “due process” and rules of evidence.	Authority in the hands of Ali‘i. Punishment is immediate and can be severe. Conservation ethic reinforced by ingrained cultural rules of social behavior and spiritual principles.
(5) Management focus	Commercial as well as recreational fishery, economic development, conservation, endangered species, environmental protection, sustainability, and maintain biodiversity.	Limit take to only what is needed by inhabitants to insure sustainable yield. Focus entirely on plants and animals used for food, medicine, selling and trade.
(6) Management theory	Established western science of management (e.g., Catch Per Unit Effort)—Accepted theory and practice subject to revision with new information.	Traditional management practices that were developed and applied locally over many generations of trial, experimentation, study, application and observation.
(7) Knowledge base	Published reports, records, data bases, documents, objective measurements and observations, and quantitative analyses of data.	Oral transmission with restricted access to information—knowledge generally kept within family lineage.
(8) Primary fishery management tools	“Regulated inefficiency” to reduce harvest. Restrictions on gear type, number of fishing days, and marine protected areas.	Intermittent complete reef closures of reefs as indicated with Kapu (forbidden take) of certain species at certain times.
(9) Fishery management target	Generally single species. Increasing focus on ecosystems.	Generally entire reef ecosystem with species specific kapu at certain times.
(10) Resource monitoring	Infrequent quantitative surveys of environmental parameters and stocks, direct underwater observations. Perception of “insufficient data” required for decisive management actions.	Continuous daily interaction with reef resources, perception that accurate knowledge of resource is held by the local master fishermen (po‘o lawai‘a), elders (kūpuna), and hoa‘āina of that place.