What Did Ancient Hawaiians Know That We Donʻt?
New York Times - March 23, 2012
Centuries ago, Hawaiians caught three times more fish annually than scientists generally consider to be sustainable in modern times — and maintained this level of harvest for more than 400 years, researchers report in a new study in the journal Fish and Fisheries.
The findings could be instructive for agencies that enforce fishing limits in overfished waters around the globe.
Native Hawaiians caught about 50 percent more fish than modern fleets catch today in both Hawaii and the Florida Keys, the two largest reef ecosystems in the United States, said a co-author of the study, Loren McClenachan, a fisheries researcher at Colby College in Waterville, Me.
Hawaiians harvested about 15 metric tons of fish per square kilometer of reef annually from 1400 to 1800, the study found. That’s five times the median harvest in island nations worldwide today.
Dr. McClenachan and her co-author, John Kittinger, a researcher at the Center for Ocean Solutions in Monterey, Calif., drew on a variety of historical records and a method called catch reconstruction to estimate historical harvests in the Hawaiian Islands and the Florida Keys.
The Hawaiians used many techniques similar to those employed today, like temporary or permanent bans from fishing in certain areas, restrictions on certain species and gear, and catch limits. But they enforced the rules strictly; breaking them could mean corporal punishment or even death....
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