Beyond Law: The Kuleana of the Lawaiʻa (Fisher) in Hawaiʻi

The Law vs. the Kuleana

Hawaiʻi’s current fishing laws outline seasons, size limits, and permits. These regulations protect resources. Ancient and traditional lawaiʻa followed deeper principles: observation, restraint, and reciprocity. The motive differs. Compliance avoids penalty; kuleana honors relationship.

A fisher following kuleana asks not “Can I?” but “Should I?”

• Should I cast if the reef looks tired?
• Should I harvest if others go hungry?
• Should I take more than my family can eat?

Where law is written on paper, kuleana is written in practice.

Core Responsibilities of a Traditional Lawaiʻa

1) Observe the Ocean (Kilo Kai)

Observation is the first responsibility. A lawaiʻa studies wind, tide, moon, current, and subtle shifts in coral color or fish behavior. Decisions to fish or rest come from reading the ocean’s signals, not calendar dates. Kilo trains humility: the sea sets the schedule.

2) Feed the Gods, Then the People

Before keeping fish, the lawaiʻa offers the first catch to Kuʻula Kai, the god of fishers, or to family ʻaumākua. This renews the covenant between human and ocean. Taking without giving invites emptiness.

3) Practice Restraint (Mālama i ke Kai)

Take only what can be used immediately. After a good catch, nets and traps are left open to let escapees repopulate the reef. Overharvest is theft from future generations.

4) Teach and Share Knowledge

The skilled lawaiʻa trains successors by example. Sharing catch with elders, widows, and children is as sacred as catching itself. Fishing selfishly breaks community trust.

5) Protect Kapu Areas and Seasons

Before written conservation, certain places and times were off-limits. Spawning grounds, fishpond mouths, or reefs recovering from storm or heat were given rest. Kapu is a community act of care, not government imposition.

Modern Relevance of Kuleana

• Know your fishing grounds like your elders did.
• Speak for reefs that cannot speak.
• Refuse waste; respect every life taken.
• Teach youth not only how to fish, but why.

The survival of Hawaiian fishing depends on aloha ʻāina—love for the land and sea—not on enforcement alone.

Lawaiʻa as Steward, Not Consumer

In Hawaiian thought, a lawaiʻa is a caretaker of nature, not its consumer. To catch fish is a privilege. To protect fish is an obligation. Kuleana balances these truths.

“He aliʻi ka ʻāina, he kauwā ke kanaka.”
The land is chief; the people are its servants.

So it is with the ocean — the lawaiʻa must always serve.

Footnotes

1. Malo, Hawaiian Antiquities — “Fishing and the Duties of the Fisher.”
2. Pukui, ʻŌlelo Noʻeau — proverbs and teachings on lawaiʻa discipline.
3. Poepoe, K., et al. — “Traditional Hawaiian Fishing Rights and Resource Management.”
4. Kawaharada, Ka Hana Lawaiʻa: Hawaiian Fishing Traditions — Kamehameha Schools Press.
5. Bishop Museum Archives — oral histories of fishers from Maui and Molokaʻi.