Since 2024 Hoʻomau Nā Maka o ka ʻĀina has collaborated with Kuaʻāina Ulu ʻAuamo (KUA) to present place-specific screenings during KUA’s Hui Mālama Loko Iʻa, an annual gathering of fishpond practitioners from 60 revitalization projects across the archipelago. Convening over the course of a few days at a host loko iʻa, practitioners work together to exchange knowledge and skills related to the management of fishponds. With support from the KUA team, Hoʻomau NMOKA edits a one hour program from newly digitized footage from the Ahupuaʻa Fishponds and Loʻi collection (1990) in advance of the gathering, with content relevant to the planned huakaʻi and host site. These edited programs compile stories from late kūpuna and kupaʻāina around specific fishpond practices and memories as well as documentation of particular wahi. On the culminating night of the annual gatherings, the videos are shared as small offerings in hopes that the 30 year old footage may provide some valuable insight into the change and continuity of places and communities.

“Under an almost-full moon, I introduced the archival video clips we would be viewing, all recorded in 1990: Abel Kahele in Miloli‘i; Marion Kelly at ‘Anaeho‘omalu fishpond; David Chai at the anchialine ponds of Keahuolū; Francis Kuailani at Kaloko-Honokōhau fishpond; and the caretakers of the fishpond complex at Kalāhuipuaʻa, North Kona: Daniel “Kaniela” Akaka, Jr., Chong Hing “Charlie” Lai, and Norman Ah Hee. As the video played on a big screen, and their young children scampered about, I wondered how the video clips would be received by the Hui members. Would the manaʻo of thirty-five years ago be relevant today? As it turns out, huakaʻi scheduled for the following day would take the Hui members to Miloliʻi, Kaloko-Honokōhau and Kalāhuipuaʻa, so they were actually getting a sneak preview of those areas. I knew that Marion, who was the star of Ahupuaʻa, Fishponds and Loʻi, would be overjoyed to know that these lively and dedicated folks were committed to restoring and revitalizing an ingenious food production system that had once provided for the survival of hundreds of thousands of islanders, but that had been neglected to the point of extinction."

- Joan Lander

“The screening of Kona footage was very informative in several ways for our planned huakaʻi during the Hui Mālama Loko Iʻa gathering in April 2025. We already knew that Kona had unique wai ʻōpae ecosystems that many kiaʻi loko from other islands have not seen before. So the ʻōpae ʻula footage included some basic background information and context, especially for two groups visiting wai ʻōpae the very next day; one huakaʻi was even to the same area stewarded by the Liliʻuokalani Trust. The huakaʻi group going to Miloliʻi also got to hear amazing reflections from the footage of Abel Kahele talking about several ponds and even the moʻowahine of Miloliʻi. One reflection from participants was that there is so much updated and current knowledge about loko iʻa in today’s kiaʻi community within the Hui Mālama Loko Iʻa and within adjacent, related ʻohana, that they feel inspired to do new interviews with current kuaʻāina and kiaʻi in these same places."

-Brenda Asuncion