Tro Net At Da Buggah

Throwing net with Hi'ilei Kawelo

This past, past Tuesday we learned how to throw net with Hi'ilei. Another fishing day once again. We learned how to hold the net, how to set it up, and overall how to throw. This involved a lot of practice on the grass as we each took turns setting up the nets in our hands on our own, then we all threw it out catching the grass. Some people's nets turned out to be the shape of kaua'i, almost a full circle, hi'ilei's looked like a spitting image of the sun or the moon, and other's came out looking like the island of moloka'i. Something went wrong in the way it was thrown in that case. Your pinky is the last thing to be released and many people forgot that. Then after a couple hours of practice, we put our newly acquire skills into action outside the walls boundaries. BI oth Hi'ilei and Koa came back with some fish, which some were thrown into the pond, and others were thrown back into the abyss. Daniel later returned with another catch. This was such a fun day, and I am happy to have learned these skills. 

Below, Leila does her first throw. 

Hi'ilei teaching us the set-up. 

Teaching us the art of throwing. 

Perfectly Sun looking. 

Little hands trying to set it up. 

Anuhea's first throw at it. 

E alu like kakou! 

Hi'ilei showing Daniel exactly how to get it done. 

Koa's first throw was a great one. 

Nikki had a hard time carrying the net, she's so small, but her throw was great! 

Just another day at the lovely fishpond! 

It was a Sherril Day, where we once again learned many new things. This day, we had to do the 8 sites that we usually work with getting algal cover information, sediment samples, BOD for MPB, as well as algal samples. We are separated into 2 groups so that the sites can go by faster, and what do you know, it went faster than we had ever done it before. We truly got a good system going here, and its already almost the end of our term as LAIP interns. Geez, the time flew by. A couple more weeks to go, and we can do this & have the most fun as possible. These Sherrill days truly give me a good leg workout, walking throughout the pond. 

Below, Cami and Sherrill working out the MPB from the BOD bottles that were collected. 

The Filtration set-up, that drips for days! 

Moa'ula checking out the scene. 

Our final community service day with Paepae

This day we moved ko'a once again, but this time, it was a bit different. We worked along the break in the wall and used the barge to move the buckets of ko'a along the wall. About 6-8 people pushed the barge, it was quite hard to push. Others loaded the barge, and others unloaded it. I happened to be in the group who unloaded and placed the ko'a on the wall, which then built wall and made it much sturdier than it recently was. Every day, the kuapa gets sturdier and sturdier and it is all because of the work of Paepae. I am grateful to have been a part of this, and I now know that I am apart of the fishpond and the fishpond is apart of me. 

We hold below, the lovely "pulled pork" (kalua pig) sandwhich with salad and the most delicious salad dressing ever. 

Afro-haired bros joined us today, & big sister. 

Afterwards, we began to work on the LAIP final projects. 

The Community volunteers getting ready to get their hands dirty.

Sherril explaining the project at hand. 

Leila is chowing it down. 

The ROOT of the problem....

was that Megsie didn't have enough mangrove ROOT samples :(

On May 15th we helped Sherril with her core samples. But on May 19th, the dilemma came in to view! Megsie wanted to collect new samples that would help look at the decomposition of the mangrove. So we had to take cores at several different sites of previous mangrove removal. I was ready to go with my soccer gear:

So we banded together to get to the ROOT of the problem. We developed an efficient system that involved all who wanted to slay the ROOT!

Cami & Anu: banded together to seek the core locations.

Sherril & Leila: core-er extraordinaires! 

Meghan & Daniel: sieve masters!

Below, our venture-ers seeking new distances for mangrove removal sites!

On one of our very last cores we encountered a foe who was so lucky to get caught in a core! Cami had invented a technique to scare away larger variations of the aforementioned foe. This technique involved slapping sticks on the surface of the water (mind you that this didn't really work! But don't tell her that :) )

Into the mangrove we seek the ROOT of this plant. But instead, we find a podaee man-a-war!

Will this core suffice? Stay tuned for the next week's blog (: