HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – The largest remaining fishpond on Kauai is now protected indefinitely after receiving a $4 million donation from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan.
The 600-year-old Alakoko Fishpond, also known as the Menehune Fishpond, is located just outside Lihue. It is home to native fish, limu and endangered birds.
A nonprofit called Malama Huleia has been taking care of the 102-acre property.
The organization had been in negotiations for a lease when the landowner offered to sell. This is when Trust for Public Land received a donation from Zuckerberg and Chan to purchase the property.
“Not only are they preserving a way of life — our Hiki Hawaii — but it’s relearning sustainability,” said Enoka Karratti, an educator of Hawaiian studies.
“We have to stop looking at our natural environment as a resource but instead look at it as our relative, like our ancestors once did,” said Malia Chun, program director at Na Pua Noeau Kauai.
“If that’s the case, Alakoko has been an incredible kupuna to us, an incredible elder that has fed us for generations and had taught us for generations.”
Zuckerberg and Chan have an estate on Kauai’s north shore, but they won’t have any ownership of the fishpond.
Nonprofits will now use the area as an outdoor classroom.
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