Kalia Fishponds - Honolulu, HI
Posted by: 
silverquill
N 21° 16.890 W 157° 50.012
4Q E 621006 N 2353749
This is Marker 15 on the historic Waikiki Trail. This entire area of Waikiki was covered with fish ponds until the U.S. Army purchased the land in 1908 and filled it in to build Fort DeRussy.
Waymark Code: WMDT11
Location: Hawaii, United States
Date Posted: 02/21/2012
Views: 15
At the turn of the 20th century, this area was still covered with 30 acres of fish ponds, a vast reserve for royalty. In 1908 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers bought this land to construct Fr. DeRussy. Today it is still officially Ft. DeRussy but most of it is open to the public as a well groomed park area and includes the U.S. Army Hawaii Museum, the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, a chapel, a recreational facility and hotel, all for military personnel.
MARKER TEXT:
Kalia Fishponds
Diamond Head from Waikiki Annex Pond.
Waikiki Historic Trail
Had you walked across this road in 1897 you
might have landed in Waikiki's largest fishpond,
the Ka'ihkapu, which measured 13 acres. All of today's Fort DeRussy on the mauka (toward the mountain) side of the road was covered with fishponds. There were actually hundreds of fishponds in Waikiki. The fishponds were controlled by the chiefs, but maintained by the commoners. The fish grown in the ponds were mostly 'ama'ama (or mullet) and awa (or milkfish), both of which adapted well to brackish water. When the ponds were well cared for, the fish fattened quickly. The ponds functioned as "royal iceboxes" with readily available food for guest, especially the unexpected.
Ancient Hawaiians believed their fishponds were inhabited by mo'o deities who were sometimes described as creatures with terrifying black bodies, 12 to 30 feet in length. Hawaiians believed these creatures were the guardian spirits of fish ponds, who not only protected the caretakers but punished those who abused their responsibilities. The reclamation of Waikiki began here in Kalia when the U.S. military acquired 72 acres of land and started draining it in 1908 to build Fort DeRussy. It took over 250,000 cubic yards of sand and coral dredged from various O'ahu areas continuously over the course of a year to cover Ka'ihikapua and its sister ponds in Kalia. The Hale Koa Hotal is used exclusively for U.S. military personnel and their dependents.