The Nature Conservancy and Hawaii Public Radio have reported on the successful efforts of community residents to protect the Kaʻūpūlehu shoreline and its marine resources. Kaʻūpūlehu is a three-and-a-half mile stretch of coastline in North Kona on Hawaii Island (often called by its nickname Big Island).

Governor David Ige signed a law that creates a 10-year marine reserve. Community leaders and residents in the area who have been fighting for 17 years to protect the shoreline, celebrated the legislation.

“For me, this effort is about the future, so our grandchildren, our mo‘opuna, will know their place and how to respect and care for it,” Leina‘ala Lightner, a Ka‘ūpūlehu community leader, told HPR. “Many of us remember what it was like to swim in schools of fish and palm ‘opihi off the rocks. I’d like for my mo‘opuna to experience the same thing, to see the abundance.”

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Ka‘ūpūlehu was once rich in marine resources, including its nearshore reefs and offshore fisheries, fishponds and anchialine pools, but the region has been negatively impacted by unsustainable fishing practices. Local residents petitioned the State, urging lawmakers to let the shoreline "rest." The law is expected to give the marine resources a chance to recover.

“We need to listen to what the elements—the fish, the coral, the limu — are telling us,” says KMLAC member Ku'ulei Keakealani. “And what they are telling us is that they need a rest.”

The Ka‘ūpūlehu Marine Life Advisory Committee (KMLAC) was established in 1995 to care for Ka‘ūpūlehu and Kūki‘o marine resources. Members are volunteers.

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