Tahitian Prawn Hunting

[dakine]

I wouldn't worry about intruding on sacred ground! Private property, however, could get you in trouble!

Yes, so many people go into the valley thinking it's their very own wonderland without realizing it is, for the most part, private property. Yes there are a few trails that are public right-of-ways, but the river itself is private. Though no talking or any other forms of civil communication seems to ever convince those that would say, "oh but doesn't the river belong to everyone?"

And, think, there are people that do live there. Yes folks when you wander off the main roads you are walking on peoples yards/farms. When you fish the rivers and streams you are taking from them. And yes, the people of the valley rely on those resources.

So in essence gypsy69 is suggesting you break the law, and violate others rights.

[leilanidude]

I wouldn't eat anything out of the river/streams in the valley. Are there not signs down there warning of bubonic plague or similar?

[Guest]

I am very sorry to lead you ashtray. Been going down there my whole life, never had a problem. I always stay in the river going up or down. I am always carrying a bucket and my nets to show my purpose. Always greet people down there with a smile and try to move through quickly as to not rake anyone's area. Folks are always interested about my methods of catching, also no problems usually catching a ride back up the hill.
Have fun, be respectful.if asked to leave, better to comply.

[dakine]

Are there not signs down there..

I haven't seen signs of late but Leptospirosis is in the water and is carried / spread by the rodent population..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leptospirosis

And Liver Fluke, supposedly introduced by the cattle on the ranch lands above the valley, is also in the water..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liver_fluke

Both of these are common in most bodies of fresh water on the island.

[dakine]

Been going down there my whole life..

And in there lies the rub, yeah?

In the 70s, when I first built a house and lived in the valley the population was practically null, and the resources were abundant. From the river to the abandoned orchards, abundant. And the amount of tourists that came into the valley on any given day practically none existent.

Today there are many, many more people living in the valley, and a myriad of tourist operators and tourists themselves and all the weekenders coming from all over the island to do what they've been 'doing all their lives'

To consider it all one just needs to look at the property maps (tax maps) of the valley and realize that now, unlike in days gone by, practically every property is spoken for, and, unfortunately, there is no land set aside for the use of the entire community. There is a map, one map compiling all the Hawaii County Tax maps of Waipio Valley, at:

http://bigislandmappingproject.com/waipiotax.html

[Southernmost]

Punawebbers is great comedy. Listen to da kine, one of the e few voices of truth and reason on here.

ETA: prawns also can carry rat lungworm disease, make sure you cook WELL.

Born&Raised Hawai'i Island

[Guest]

Wow, never thought of that river as being so polluted or infected. Guess the private owners stopped caring for their part of the river? Maybe the state or dlnr should step in to give the river a good cleaning, before the river water runs into our ocean that is? I am sure some folks would want to blame the visitors walking the river. I see way too many 3 and 4 wheel off road motorcycles and horse **** in the river it self, probably from to many paid tourists these days.

So we shouldn't eat what we catch from our rivers anymore? We shouldn't eat our reef fish anymore? Puako beach and Kapoho tide pools use to have plenty fish and yes I grew up eating many of them. Shame how the state has allowed million dollar homes to be built in these areas, stopped all fishing from these areas and now the fish is poisoned for us residents.
Kapoho is embarrassing now, tourists have to park a half mile away from the ocean. They all must walk through the subdivision with to much to carry, leaving a never ending trail of lost privacy for the residents. The one bathroom is not enough and to far away, most still probably piss in and around the ocean. I wanted to take my four year old boy out to fish down there this past weekend. I parked my van by the old fisherman's trail, looked as if the area was blocked off a bit. I had to carry him, fishing gear, all more than a couple hundred yards on my recent broken ankle. The water was brown with very few fish, not that the fish are safe to eat anyway. Maybe a few hundred bottles of bleach would go a long way down there?

[Southernmost]

Few hundred bottles of bleach??!! WTF?! I think your mind is not all there braddah.

Born&Raised Hawai'i Island

[Carey]

Many do not realize that the impact of Iselle is still influencing the Kapoho area. There is no way you can have tens of tons of organic debris pushed into the ponds by storm surge, and have no impact to the adjacent reef.

most fishermen also know that times of high rain (as we have had this March) impact water quality,esp if it is following the period of drought we had from Jan-Feb & even more downed trees in Jan.

Right now there is a huge organic debris potential & enough rain to cause run off... some of it is man-made, but nature is also in this run-off...

As to the prawn, M. lar, it is a freshwater inhabitant & as such, has a fairly limited range on Hawaii Island (as we have very few perennial FW streams with the 'proper' ocean - river profile), but you can find them, with the normal caveats about the streams here (as mentioned, the river borne diseases & the fact that swimmers die in them, not realizing the holding capacity of the river "undertow".... Wailuku alone usually takes 1 -2 swimmers every year, they do not realize how powerful those "suck holes" & ledges can be!)

[Guest]

Southernmost, I meant for home owner use. Most of the brown streams are comming from nearby residents on the shore. Some folks even have the house over or on the ocean meaning no way to walk by without swimming through their pond. The run off of most properties after high tides seem to carry lots of glass and trash, imagine what we can not see? I use bleach in my catchment once every six months to help keep it dis infected enough for showers. What can people use to clean their dirty ponds out down there, I thought this was common practice? "Not really southernmost just trying to push buttons a bit to get the truths braddah." Something is killing the fish and most the coral down in kapoho.