History of Hawaii’s Ocean Users

The seafaring people of Polynesia migrated across large expanses of ocean waters to populate the islands of Hawaii. The Pacific has been a highway between over 1,000 islands in the central and south Pacific Ocean for ancient wayfinders who knew how to survive on long sea voyages. They found and populated islands that could sustain life in a vast ocean, and then they voyaged between these distant islands again and again. Modern mariners aboard the double-hulled sailing canoe Hokule`a have recreated those historic voyages and have even sailed beyond the far reaches of the Pacific Basin, circling the globe before returning safely to Hawaii.

There is evidence everywhere that ties Hawaii’s people and its unique island culture to the ocean.

• Holes carved in Hawaii’s jagged, lava-rock coastlines are prehistoric moorings for canoes used for fishing where the current is swift.
• Wooden outrigger canoes were used in ancient times for traveling between the islands and along the coastline between communities and ahupua`a (traditional land divisions). That ancient use of canoes for traveling led Hawaii to establish canoe paddling as the State’s team sport.
• The modern practice of surfing, regarded by many to have been invented in Hawaii, is practiced globally by an estimated 35 million people. It became an Olympic sport in 2016.
• Majestic marine creatures—like whales, dolphins, sharks, turtles, and mantas—serve as aumakua or ancestral guardian spirits to the Hawaiian people.

Because local culture has grown up with the ocean as part of the landscape, the ocean has, for countless generations, been a source of sustenance and resources. It has immense cultural significance, and there is a staggering variety and abundance of different uses for the ocean. It is also regarded as a responsibility that we must all care for.

In almost every case, there are unspoken rules of conduct that determine acceptable and unacceptable behavior while a person is out on the ocean.

While Hawaii’s rich maritime history continues to evolve and diversify, the number of ocean users in our waters continues to increase. New technology has made it less expensive to own devices and vessels that allow people to play on Hawaii’s waters. The proliferation of watercraft and users creates conflict between user groups that are recreational or commercial, traditional or new, local or out-of-state.

If we are to enjoy this resource into the future, we must remember that those who participate in ocean sports love and revere our ocean waters, and we must share it with respect and in harmony, or we may lose the ability to use it freely.