■ Prologue. In more than 30 years I have never written an introduction to an HFN article. So much for never. When traveling across Hawai‘i’s island channels in a small boat in raging tradewinds, twisting bumpy seas force you awake. Here’s another bumpy ride for a different Hawai‘i channel crossing: nation-building. This voyage starts with the press release “Interior Department Announces Development of First-Ever Consultation Policy with Native Hawaiian Community.”
For decades, federal agencies like the National Park Service and Papāhanaumokuākea Marine National Monument have sidestepped U.S. law by allocating Native Hawaiian fishing rights without negotiating with Native Hawaiians as a nation, a tribe or a band. Now the U.S. Department of the Interior wants to make pono, (what could be seen as greenwashing) by “consulting” with Hawaiians. The question is: with whom and with which Hawaiians is the government consulting? And how will process this affect all Hawai‘i fishers, hunters and gatherers?
“The Interior Department is committed to working with the Native Hawaiian Community on a government-to-sovereign basis to address concerns related to self-governance, Native Hawaiian trust resources, and other Native Hawaiian rights,” said Interior Department Secretary Deb Haaland, herself a Native.
