The Oysters & The Kalauao Lawaia

"The Oyster is a treasure that is longed for. But overtime its life with shine when the time is right. They can be better than any treasure you can hold, but one you can eat. It's a lot more ono."

The older folks would talk story about going to look for the oysters from the waters of Puʻuloa Harbor (long hill) it was someplace people use to fish, go get shellfish and stuff, until the war broke out. The mountains were green and the water would be still in the harbor area where many ships were coming in. Along the corals there would be ocean life and as you go deeper there would be the shellfish. The oysters would be in the waters down there. There was a man in Aiea that would always be checking by the shores to see if the oysters were all right, but the feeling of darkness was around and it would be quiet and spots of black would be on top the waters. It wasn't the right time as things would become darker with the days to come, but he knew that the Harbor would one day recover.

As the man's life was coming to an end there would be a story that would be opened up to a life with the harbor. The boats that would come in and out with fish, but for some the crucial treasure of the oyster would be the crackling from their shells hitting the reef. All sorts of people would go out to the harbor to check for the oysters and see if they had developed enough to bring the treasured pearls. Searching around there would be mud crabs and birds like the Hawaiian Coot with its white nose would make its noise. It wasn't good to bring the oysters to the shore, but in a bucket there were people who would pick them up and take them back. The dripping of water and the splashes could be heard from the house down the road where the meat would be rinsed and the oysters could taste their best. These were not large and the reason people didn't always eat it is that it would taste like Puʻuloa Harbor. 

"Oysters by this time were rare to find and it was mostly small fish and very large crabs. I still remember eating one of those oysters, even when wasn't suppose to. I thought that it would be important to bring the oysters back to how they were before the navy left their mark. I tell this story, cause, who else I goin tell? who has a passion for oysters..."

A shucking knife to open up an oyster and to bring it to your mouth is a experience that is very hands on. The tastes of the harbor are something that is different, something that makes it taste like the waters of Hawaii, but also it feels like the animal is sharing its wisdom. A Hawaiian man who harvested them would cook them over fire and throw them in his fried noodles to add a milky flavor that was full of brine with a cream color. They would be firm and tasty as they would have a chew to them accompanied by the noodles that had a slight char on the outside. The hills would have nothing but cane sugar as far as the eye could see and the day passes and the evening comes where the waters start to become alive with life. The eels and the octopus come out to play and the fish of the night start to feed. There were stories passed on from the previous generation that there were much more oysters before the mud had covered the oyster beds and the mud crab began being more common than the oyster.

The people in Aiea know the harbor, the people in Manana too, and in Waipahu where west loch is. The people of these areas would share their stories while fishing, while their parents were busy working in the fields and feeding themselves off the area of Puuloa. The children would interact with the trees and see the theatre and visit the harbor for its view and from there they would learn. All the rivers would flow from the top of the mountain range down the ocean and the mineral rich mixture helped made it even more alive as the water was rich. Going through the mountains there were a lot of trees and bushes would be important as to see where the water was coming from and to make sure there was moss to help with keeping for a healthy environment. The dragon flies would get rid of many mosquitos on the water-top, 'O'opu fish would show if the water was healthy with 'Ōpae Shrimp that would show that life is still happening in the water before it meets the harbor. 

Looking across the water the once sealife filled harbor that was renovated for ships got very polluted as postwar Hawaii as it pursued further militarization and higher economic growth. After the war the tides would be greyish and puddles of black as it got really bad and the waters would be muddied when entering from the shore from all the mudd and no oysters could be found. It was not how Nature or the Hawaiian people had intended, but a disaster of war. At that time it was known that there was a close relationship between the mountains of forest with the stream water and the sea. Those were the costs of the modernization and the oysters that ate phytoplankton were not really growing, but mud crabs did. For many years due to financing, research, and all sorts of things the harbor wouldn't return as it once was and it would be years before oysters were reintroduced into the harbor to clean up the waters. Reintroducing the oysters is not enough to restore it. because the streams take whatever comes with it to the sea and there are certain things needed for a healthy forest to nourish the phytoplankton, so the waters and the forest would come first. 

"Expansive is Pu'uloa a harbor for Ewa. An extensive harbor belonging to the Kehau breeze. An abundant, overflowing estuary for Ewa. To this land belongs the fish that silences voices. The voices of people will be silenced. Yet a response is always given lest there be shame. The aforementioned fish fills the sea. Fom the scared reddish sea to the sea of Kuhia." -Hawaiian Chant 

When people would go down to hunt as well as plant seeds in the forest you could sometimes feel like there was a sort of rhythm in the air. Sort of like a pounding of an Ipu in the distance could be heard, but it seemed like no one else had heard them it was haunting. When talking to other people in the area there was much concern about the pollutants of the harbor that has seen better days and there was always a hope that things would get better. Maybe planting a sort of plant, or helping the area near the where the rain water gathered would be the answer, but some might not know. People who referred to the Military area would call it Pearl Harbor, but those who would see it as a place of life would call it "Puʻuloa" by its Hawaiian name. Maybe if people looked at forestation and studied more about the phytoplankton that the Oysters of  Puʻuloa could sprout once more. 

"after the war it was more of a hunting ground for mud crabs than it was oysters and it would become not a place for sea life as the water had oil in it. No one had expected to go through a time like that within their lifetime... Not in my life time at least... the water that was contaminated appeared unsafe. "

It would take the recovery of life on land as well as life in the water to recover for life to thrive once again. The water has cloudy water called the "Turbidity" makes it harder for life to thrive from there being less light, the petroleum contamination (jet-fuel leak), forever chemicals (PFAS), toxic water designated area (superfund site). For the life there would be places that they would need to grow and adding branches with stones attached to the bottom could possibly help the water body of the harbor. Life was growing back after the war even in places you wouldn't think it would grow. The sunken navy boats and a tank had life growing around it. It really depends on the people who continue to take care of the land and not just take from it, because they are the fertilizer that will bring the oysters back.

Toxic-Water Filters are those that are Specialized to be used to filter polluted water, but in the case of Hawaii there are efforts for it to help the polluted harbor water at Pearl Harbor. These oysters vacuum up all sorts of pollutants and it becomes part of them, so if they are eaten they themselves become incredibly toxic and should not be eaten. 

They can filter 25-50 gallons of water per day 

Black-lipped pearl oyster are protected and not marked as food as they once were, due to no way to grow them to their previous populations.

The Poison Water of Pearl Harbor