FARM TO FABLED
Hualālai is helping to revive Hawaiian aquaculture and taking its cuisine to new heights. BY AMANDA MILLIN PHOTOGRAPHY BY DANA EDMUNDS
f the 38 storied loko i‘a, or Hawaiian fishponds, in various stages of restoration in the archipelago, the one named Waiakauhi is well known at the Four Seasons Resort Hualālai: It’s located right on the property. “Its excavation took over two years,” says David Chai, Hualālai’s director of natural resources. “A lot of work was done by hand, removing invasives like kiawe trees.” Chai, a marine biologist—he has a master’s degree in geography with emphasis on coastal ecology and aquatic resource management from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa—was asked in 1990 to conduct a biophysical survey of the land on which Hualālai now sits.
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