WEBVTT 00:00:14.305 --> 00:00:14.556 We're 00:00:14.556 --> 00:00:17.559 diving far deeper than regular scuba divers do. 00:00:17.934 --> 00:00:21.646 And as such, we're getting to places no human being has ever visited. 00:00:22.063 --> 00:00:24.774 And we're finding things no scientist has ever seen. 00:00:24.774 --> 00:00:28.695 As a research coordinator, I don't necessarily do all the research myself, 00:00:29.070 --> 00:00:32.323 but I try to find appropriate scientists who can help us answer 00:00:32.323 --> 00:00:37.328 some of our management questions using the latest and best science. 00:00:37.328 --> 00:00:40.915 Papahānaumokuākea is one of the last great wild places left on Earth. 00:00:40.957 --> 00:00:44.711 It's like the African Serengeti or the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. 00:00:44.711 --> 00:00:48.965 It's one of the last big, completely wild, unexplored places left on Earth. 00:00:49.507 --> 00:00:50.675 We can use Papahānaumokuākea 00:00:50.675 --> 00:00:53.887 to see what our main Hawaiian islands, what our marine resources 00:00:53.887 --> 00:00:56.890 must have looked like 100 or 1000 years ago. 00:00:57.223 --> 00:01:00.643 It helps us to set restoration goals because we know what this place used 00:01:00.643 --> 00:01:03.646 to look like, what it could look like again, with better management. 00:01:04.064 --> 00:01:06.816 Because we have to recognize that this is the end of the line 00:01:06.816 --> 00:01:07.692 for the Hawaiian Islands. 00:01:07.692 --> 00:01:10.695 These are the oldest Hawaiian islands, the kūpuna (respected elders) islands. 00:01:10.904 --> 00:01:13.573 Beyond. Midway, beyond Kure 00:01:13.573 --> 00:01:15.784 There are no more Hawaiian islands. This is it. 00:01:15.784 --> 00:01:17.410 This is our last chance. 00:01:17.410 --> 00:01:18.495 It's our best chance. 00:01:18.495 --> 00:01:21.039 It's our only chance to get it right. 00:01:21.039 --> 00:01:22.082 And I'm optimistic. 00:01:22.082 --> 00:01:24.375 In spite of all the reasons we have to be pessimistic. 00:01:24.375 --> 00:01:27.670 Marine debris, climate change, all the things that are going wrong on 00:01:27.670 --> 00:01:28.630 this planet. 00:01:28.630 --> 00:01:31.633 I think we're doing something right with Papahānaumokuākea, 00:01:32.175 --> 00:01:35.136 making Native Hawaiian culture a foundational element 00:01:35.136 --> 00:01:37.931 of how we manage this place, that drives our values, 00:01:37.931 --> 00:01:40.433 and that will drive the outcome of our management of this place. 00:01:40.433 --> 00:01:44.145 And I think with that as our underpinning, I really feel we're going to succeed. 00:01:48.817 --> 00:01:49.359 I think 00:01:49.359 --> 00:01:53.113 one of the biggest successes for the Reserve Advisory Council 00:01:53.196 --> 00:01:56.366 has been to see that next generation 00:01:56.533 --> 00:02:01.704 of educated Hawaiians join the council. 00:02:02.205 --> 00:02:05.375 There aren't very many of us that actually 00:02:06.668 --> 00:02:10.088 are considered by Western standards “scientists,” 00:02:10.505 --> 00:02:14.467 that are working to study the ocean through that Western, 00:02:15.343 --> 00:02:19.055 I guess label, through the MEGA lab, through the work that we do, 00:02:19.430 --> 00:02:21.391 we're really trying to shift that narrative. 00:02:21.391 --> 00:02:25.436 We're trying to shift the way that we interact with our communities, 00:02:25.436 --> 00:02:28.690 and we talk about the ocean and we talk about conservation, 00:02:28.690 --> 00:02:32.485 and we talk about climate change and the ways in which we do that 00:02:32.485 --> 00:02:36.156 is we celebrate the whole self as a scientist. 00:02:36.614 --> 00:02:40.535 So we celebrate our students and the researchers. 00:02:40.535 --> 00:02:44.622 We celebrate them as being surfers, as being paddlers, 00:02:44.998 --> 00:02:47.959 as being artists, as being skateboarders. 00:02:47.959 --> 00:02:50.795 Right now we have two PhD students. 00:02:50.795 --> 00:02:54.132 We have Kainalu Steward who is mapping 00:02:54.132 --> 00:03:00.013 how the islands at Lalo are recovering after Hurricane Walaka, 00:03:00.138 --> 00:03:05.185 and Kailey Pascoe, who is also a Nancy Foster scholar. 00:03:05.226 --> 00:03:10.690 Her work is dedicated entirely to pop and animal care, as well as, Hawaiʻi Island. 00:03:10.690 --> 00:03:15.069 But she's looking at how the reef, how the reef is recovering 00:03:15.403 --> 00:03:16.779 from Hurricane Wilma, 00:03:16.779 --> 00:03:20.992 as well as those reefs that were not impacted by the hurricane as well. 00:03:20.992 --> 00:03:23.620 So finding those reefs that were more resilient 00:03:23.620 --> 00:03:26.789 and to see the ways in which they're navigating, you know, really difficult 00:03:26.789 --> 00:03:30.001 conversations about how we jointly 00:03:30.001 --> 00:03:33.004 the manage our resources 00:03:33.588 --> 00:03:37.091 both from a natural and cultural perspective, because 00:03:38.051 --> 00:03:41.054 that's the way in which 00:03:41.262 --> 00:03:42.388 Papahānaumokuākea 00:03:42.388 --> 00:03:45.391 was established, 00:03:45.433 --> 00:03:47.769 culture and nature are equal. 00:03:47.769 --> 00:03:50.772 They are one. 00:03:52.482 --> 00:03:55.693 Being an educator as well as being a Kūmu Hula. 00:03:55.944 --> 00:03:58.029 Yes, there are definitely distinct differences. 00:03:58.029 --> 00:04:01.032 But at its core, 00:04:01.741 --> 00:04:02.951 it's about education. 00:04:02.951 --> 00:04:05.495 It's about sharing knowledge. 00:04:05.495 --> 00:04:08.998 It's about empowering our haumana 00:04:08.998 --> 00:04:13.086 with the knowledge moʻolelo or our stories. 00:04:13.419 --> 00:04:17.090 There are many connections that you can make between hula 00:04:17.090 --> 00:04:21.678 or different Hawaiian arts and cultural practices and the ocean. 00:04:21.970 --> 00:04:25.515 I mean, obviously, we are an island community 00:04:25.515 --> 00:04:27.058 and we are surrounded by the ocean. 00:04:27.058 --> 00:04:28.476 So the ocean is going to be part 00:04:28.476 --> 00:04:32.522 of our everyday life, whether we realize it or not. 00:04:32.563 --> 00:04:37.527 The connection to the ocean through hula is a strong one. 00:04:37.527 --> 00:04:42.198 It's a necessary one, and it's one that we value and we respect. 00:04:42.323 --> 00:04:44.284 We don't have adornments. 00:04:44.284 --> 00:04:47.954 If we don't have our natural environment, we do not have mele. 00:04:47.954 --> 00:04:52.917 If we don't have the ocean or the rains or the winds or our deities 00:04:52.959 --> 00:04:56.713 that represented them, we do not have hula. 00:04:56.713 --> 00:05:00.967 If we don't have mele to express these different ideas or concepts.