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The environment and culture were divided by the Ala Wai Canal, a geographical boundary surrounding Waikīkī in the city of Honolulu on Oʻahu Island of Hawaiʻi. In this article, I discuss how their reconnection can be enhanced by focusing on the activities of the Waikīkī Aquarium, which is part of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (UH Mānoa).
Streams from Makīkī, Mānoa, and the Pālolo Valleys on Oʻahu Island used to flow into the Waikīkī area, which was originally a wetland mainly used for agriculture and Kānaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) cultural activities. However, the construction of the Ala Wai Canal in 1927 changed the flow of water drastically. As a result, the ecosystem of the Mānoa-Pālolo Watershed and food production, symbolized by connections among taro patches, fishponds, rivers, and the ocean, disappeared from the Waikīkī area.
Total restoration of the ecosystem, and cultural activities associated with it, may not be easy in current Waikīkī and the Mānoa-Pālolo Watershed, but there are activities that visualize the environmental and cultural wholeness of the watershed. Within a UH Mānoa program called Welina Mānoa, the Waikīkī Aquarium, Lyon Arboretum, Mānoa Heritage Center, and Ka Papa Loʻi ʻO Kānewai are collaborating to present the environment and the culture of the Mānoa Valley, which extends from the land to the ocean beyond the Ala Wai Canal. These institutions are all located in the watershed and present different aspects of the area. In the Lyon Arboretum, the cultural importance and traditional use of each plant in the arboretum is explained. The Mānoa Heritage Center has restored a sacred site for Kānaka Maoli in which the entire scenery of the Mānoa Valley can be observed. Ka Papa Loʻi ʻO Kānewai is a taro patch run by the Hawaiʻinuiākea (School of Hawaiian Knowledge) of UH Mānoa, which is used for educational and cultural purposes. These three facilities present the environment and culture of the land of the Mānoa-Pālolo Watershed, while the Waikīkī Aquarium presents those of the ocean.
Among these four facilities, the Waikīkī Aquarium is unique in the following ways. First, although they mainly focus on the environment of the ocean, the Waikīkī Aquarium addresses the connection between the ocean and the land. In the Kānaka Maoli worldview, the land and the ocean are inseparable, which is shown in Kumulipo, the Hawaiian creation chant. Therefore, particularly in the Hawaiian context, it is important to emphasize such connections. In addition to marine creatures, the Waikīkī Aquarium exhibits plants native to Hawaiʻi and cultural information related to them. Also, their new coral exhibit, opened in 2019, aims to show the contrast of living corals underwater and pieces of coral found on land. Second, the Waikīkī Aquarium provides a space for both local residents and tourists to learn about the environment and culture of the Mānoa-Pālolo Watershed. The aquarium, which functions as a popular tourist attraction as well as an educational facility for local residents, helps local residents and tourists to collaboratively find solutions for problems caused by the segmentation of the environment and culture of the Mānoa-Pālolo Watershed.
A researcher of the U.S.-Mexico borderland, Oscar J. Martínez, wrote that there are four models of interaction seen on borderlands. These are the alienated, coexisted, interdependent, and integrated models. Today, this theory is applied to various types of geographical boundaries, as well as the relationship between two groups. Activities of the Waikīkī Aquarium can be understood with this theory in the following ways. First, adding an exhibition of plants at the Waikīkī Aquarium emphasizes the connection between the land and the ocean. It helps to strengthen the collaboration among institutions in the Mānoa-Pālolo Watershed, which conduct activities related to issues on the land. As a result, it elaborates on the relationship between these institutions from the coexisting model to the interdependent model. Second, the Waikīkī Aquarium can enhance friendly relationships between tourists and local residents. In the context of the theory of Martínez, it is understood that the relationship between them would shift from the coexisting model to the interdependent model.
In general, the role of today's aquariums is explained as entertainment, education, research, and environmental protection. In addition to these, activities of the Waikīkī Aquarium contribute to the revitalization of the culture of the Mānoa-Pālolo Watershed as a soft power. Historian Andrea Feeser described the development of Waikīkī as a history of suffering brought on by colonialism and capitalism, also as the local people's resistance to them. If so, activities of the Waikīkī Aquarium are peaceful trials that help overcome difficulties caused by the colonization of Waikīkī and the introduction of capitalism to the area, symbolized by the construction of the Ala Wai Canal, which divided the Mānoa-Pālolo Watershed. Academica
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