KAPA‘A — What started out as one man’s observation has blossomed into a win-win situation for the state Department of Land and Natural Resources Aquatics Division and students in Kapa‘a High School’s Work-Place Readiness Program. The students and their teacher,
KAPA‘A — What started out as one man’s observation has blossomed into a win-win situation for the state Department of Land and Natural Resources Aquatics Division and students in Kapa‘a High School’s Work-Place Readiness Program.
The students and their teacher, Brandon Fujita, have released a quantity of bluegill into the Wailua Reservoir.
The release culminates a phase of the program that started two or three years ago, Fujita said. The purpose of Ka Loko I‘a project, or The Fisheries, is for students to build and enhance the ecosystem at the Wailua Reservoir.
Wade Ishikawa of the Aquatics Division said the program marks the first time that a high school in the state has collaborated with the DLNR in a project as big as the restoration and maintenance of the Wailua Public Fishing Area, and based on the successes enjoyed by the students, has positioned Kapa‘a High School to be the first student-run fishery in the state.
“When you talk to the old-time fishermen, every one remembers catching bluegill,” Ishikawa said. “Even Gilmore Youn, the Kapa‘a High School principal, remembers catching bluegill when he was a youngster.”
The restoration of fishing by restocking fish is just a part of the overall project that started when Ishikawa approached Kapa‘a High School on the use of the aquaculture facilities that were not being utilized.
That sparked the partnership that has expanded to include a number of community partners working with the school and the students, Fujita said.
Ishikawa is one of the consultants from the DLNR that works with the students at Ka Loko I‘a, the reconstructed fisheries management facility on the campus of Kapa‘a High School.
Fujita said Brian Doo of the Pahio Development is also a major partner in the project.
Since its inception, the former aquaculture area at the Kapa‘a campus has been totally re-vamped, recently getting the help from the crew working on a sewer project that runs adjacent to the tanks.
“They were a big help,” Fujita said. “They leveled the ground by placing some of the dug-up dirt on the area and helped the students level the area so we could expand the number of tanks up to the fenceline.”
Ishikawa said the primary objective of that phase was to make the tanks more user-friendly to the students with an emphasis on safety.
Students lost little time getting their hands wet as they set out to raise bluegill and catfish.
“They found out that raising fish is a lot of hard work,” Fujita said. “They had to take data on water quality, temperature, input everything into the computers and come up with a schedule to keep everything balanced.”
During that time, the students also made monthly visits to the Wailua Reservoir to collect data on vegetation, water quality and foraging animals, Ishikawa said.
“It was all about learning about the ecosystem based on the ahupua‘a system,” Fujita said. “The students were really good about grasping on to the concepts and worked really hard.”
The release of the initial bluegill, outgrowing its current tanks, represents the first re-stocking of the Wailua Reservoir since the early 1950s, Ishikawa said.
But outside of his personal interest based on the needs of the DLNR in getting the Wailua Public Fishing Area to flourish, Ishikawa said Ka Loko I‘a represents a great learning facility for the Kapa‘a High School students.
“It’s not just an aquaculture or a hatchery,” Ishikawa said. “What they are doing now is hands-on learning of Fisheries Management 101. If the kids are interested, the world is open to them.”
If the students can maintain a fresh-water aquarium, they can maintain a reservoir, which simplistically speaking, is a large aquarium, Ishikawa said.
Fujita said the 20 students currently enrolled in the program are spread out over five classes and as a teacher, he has not seen students work so eagerly, or hard, on a project.
“They come to class and tell me ‘Today we’re cleaning the tanks?’” Fujita said. “I don’t need to have to tell them what to do and then deal with getting them to do the task. They work really hard, but now they’re beginning to see the fruits of their labor.”
Ishikawa said during his conversations with Youn, the principal told him he wants the kids to take care of the community.
“This way, when they take their kids to fish in the Wailua Public Fishing Area, they’ll remember how they were on the ground floor of its restoration and they’ll have something to be proud of,” Fujita said. “This is all the fruits of their labor.”
