Science & Technology

How do we know what we know? Sending an underwater video camera down to see what sharks, rays or other species are present, or taking an eDNA sample only tells us so much.  It tells us “existence”.  When we take that data further through seeking out cultural information, geographical histories, patterns and modeling, and developing technologies like AI to make methodologies more fluid, we are integrating ways of knowing to deepen our understanding. Geoscientist, author and fellow Nat Geo Explorer, Andres Ruzo, stated, “the discovery of existence is not the same as the discovery of significance.”  By integrating multiple ways of knowing, we are striving to explore and share the significance of our findings through this project. 

In Hawaiian culture, sharks are not just understood by their physical traits, but their personalities and their relationships to the Islands and their families.  Most areas along the coast of the Hawaiian Islands had a caretaker and familial relationship with manō.  As stated by Noelani Puniwai in the paper Pua ka Wiliwili, Nanahu ka Manō: Understanding Sharks in Hawaiian Culture,

 “The development of familial relationships of kanaka and sharks should be recognized and encouraged by research scientists and managers interested in becoming more intimate with particular waters.  As shark tagging and modern DNA techniques allow us to learn more about shark geography and culture, we must recognize that kanaka maoli did this by simply being present, by actively cultivating relationships. This indigenous methodology was documented through our mo’olelo and both these techniques can be used again as part of modern marine management techniques.”

Sharks and Culture

By Ben Cammarata and Kelly Koller

The land and sea are intrinsic Hawaiian culture, passed on in mo’olelo, or oral histories. The inhabitants of the Hawaiian Islands that existed before humans, including sharks, manō, are regarded with the respect given to an elder relative. Of all beings, sharks are some of the most universally prevalent ‘aumekua, ancestors and family protectors.  ‘Aumekua can be reincarnated family members, are highly revered  and often given offerings of food. In return for this reverence, it is believed that manō will come to family members in their dreams or in other ways to impart knowledge and guidance.  
Read more in Hawai’i Magazine

Kaikea Nakachi dedicates a section of his paper “Heeding the History of Kahu Manō: Developing and Validating a Pono Photo-Identification Methodology for Tiger Sharks (Galeocerdo cuvier) in Hawaiʻi” to the connectedness of Hawaiian beliefs and sharks: 

“It is important to note that within Hawaiian beliefs and in Hawaiian epistemology, the land and sea, as well as all its non-human inhabitants, are believed to have existed and been born from humans (Johnson 2000). Hawaiians are and were born as children of the land, and as told in mo’olelo, or history, are the younger relatives of these islands, its inhabitants, and it’s elemental deities…The cultural importance of sharks to Native Hawaiians is further highlighted by the existence of kahu mano, or shark keepers, whose kuleana, or responsibility, included the care, observation, and worship of patron sharks (Emerson 1892, Beckwith 1917)”.

Reading list: 

Shared by Kaikea Nakachi

• Hawaiian Shark ‘Aumakua (Ancestral family deities) (Beckwith, 1917) https://www.jstor.org/stable/660651#metadata_info_tab_contents
• Heeding the History of Kahu Manō: Developing and Validating a Pono Photo-Identification Methodology for Tiger Sharks (Galeocerdo cuvier) in Hawaiʻi (Nakachi, 2022) https://dspace.lib.hawaii.edu/handle/10790/6865
• Pua ka Wiliwili, Nanahu ka Manō: Understanding Sharks in Hawaiian Culture (Puniwai, 2020) https://muse.jhu.edu/article/772228