{"id":124845,"date":"2025-08-06T23:32:14","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T23:32:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/124845\/"},"modified":"2025-08-06T23:32:14","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T23:32:14","slug":"will-bailey-why-east-hawaiis-fishery-has-fallen-on-hard-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/124845\/","title":{"rendered":"Will Bailey: Why East Hawai\u2018i’s Fishery Has Fallen On Hard Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

From the boats to the markets, Hilo Bay used to be a thriving industrial area.<\/p>\n

My dad still talks about it.<\/p>\n

How in the 1980s he flew over from Kaua\u2018i just to see it \u2014 the bustle, the action, the life that radiated from Suisan Fish Market.<\/p>\n

Back then, it wasn\u2019t just a place to buy fish. It was the beating heart of Hilo\u2019s working shoreline. Boats would come in loaded, men yelling, forklifts moving, kids running underfoot, aunties eyeing the fresh \u2018ahi. You didn\u2019t just witness it, you felt it. Like the tide itself.<\/p>\n

Today, Suisan is still open. Still trying. But the energy is different. Much of the fish comes from the mainland now. The poke runs out early. And the boats that once fed it are fewer and older.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Ideas showcases stories, opinion and analysis about Hawai\u02bbi, from the state\u2019s sharpest thinkers, to stretch our collective thinking about a problem or an issue. Email news@civilbeat.org<\/a> to submit an idea or an essay.<\/p>\n

The market didn\u2019t change because people stopped fishing. It changed because the systems around it stopped working.<\/p>\n

Boat ramps closed. Fuel costs spiked. Regulations mounted. The bay grew dirtier. And slowly, one by one, the fishers who made Suisan what it was retired, quit or lost access.<\/p>\n

The Pulse In Puna<\/p>\n

But the story isn\u2019t just in town.<\/p>\n

If Suisan was the heart of Hilo\u2019s fishery, then J Hara Store has been its pulse in upper Puna.<\/p>\n

Since 1993, it\u2019s been more than a shop. Back when the subdivisions were still raw and the roads were pitted dirt, you could see neighbors coming in from miles away by the dust cloud trailing behind their truck. And when they came out, they came here.<\/p>\n

J Hara\u2019s sold gear, bait, essentials \u2014 but more than that, it sold possibility. The racks of rods and tackle didn\u2019t just promise fish. They offered a way to provide, to connect, to carry forward what you knew. Even now, decades later, the store holds that weight. Generations have passed through, buying their first reel, talking story about the tide, or sharing quiet disappointment after another ramp closed.<\/p>\n

\"\"Avery Berido has worked at J Hara since it opened in 1993. He\u2019s watched the shoreline \u2014 and the respect that once ruled it \u2014 slowly change. (Will Bailey\/Civil Beat\/2025)<\/p>\n

I spoke with Avery Berido, who\u2019s been working there since the beginning. He remembers when fishing spots weren\u2019t crowded, when respect ruled the shoreline.<\/p>\n

\u201cBack in the \u201990s \u2026 when you found a spot, you\u2019d be the only person there, unless someone else knew it,\u201d Berido said. <\/p>\n

But since the late 2000s, he\u2019s seen more people, less patience, and fewer fish. The store\u2019s still open, still steady, but the shoreline it once served is changing. And that change is felt behind the counter.<\/p>\n

Ramps Closed, Boats Stopped<\/p>\n

You can\u2019t talk about that change without talking about the ramps.<\/p>\n

Wailoa is the only viable boat launch from H\u0101m\u0101kua to Ka\u02bb\u016b. That\u2019s over 100 miles of coast \u2014 longer than the entire island of O\u02bbahu \u2014 and only one ramp. For years, it went without dredging, building up so much silt that launches became hazardous. Boats got damaged. Fishers got fined by the Coast Guard. Some gave up entirely. Even now, Wailoa is far from reliable.<\/p>\n

Pohoiki, once the primary ramp for the east side, was buried in the 2018 eruption. Seven years later, dredging only began<\/a> this past June. It\u2019s scheduled to finish in 2026. But there\u2019s no plan for upkeep. No maintenance budget. Just another promise, kicked down the road.<\/p>\n

With Pohoiki closed and Wailoa broken, some fishers drove 40, 60, even 80 miles to launch from Honok\u014dhau \u2014 spending hundreds more on fuel and losing full days just to do what used to take hours. Many simply quit.<\/p>\n

And it shows.<\/p>\n

Suisan\u2019s supply chain has thinned. Local poke disappears before noon. And families who once relied on their uncle or cousin for fresh fish are now left with mainland fillets on Styrofoam trays.<\/p>\n

\"\"The Wailoa boat ramp, the only viable one between H\u0101m\u0101kua and Ka\u02bb\u016b, has long suffered from neglect, silt buildup and costly maintenance delays. (Will Bailey\/Civil Beat\/2025)<\/p>\n

Investment vs. Neglect<\/p>\n

Kona tells a different story.<\/p>\n

At Honok\u014dhau Harbor, the ramps are wide, the dredging is regular, and the slips are full. The charter fleet there supports nearly 400 jobs and brings in over $17 million annually. Tourists come for the thrill \u2014 trophy marlin, deep-sea days, sunset sails \u2014 and they leave happy. It\u2019s curated. Funded. Working as intended.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not just the infrastructure.<\/p>\n

Kona\u2019s waters are protected, studied, and stewarded. Since 1998, the West Hawai\u2018i Regional Fishery Management Area has monitored 35% of the coastline, creating replenishment zones where yellow tang populations have bounced back 14%. At Ka\u2018\u016bp\u016blehu, a community-led reserve boosted fish biomass by over 600% since 2016 \u2014 not through bans, but kuleana. Local rules, local care.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the difference.<\/p>\n

West Hawai\u2018i treats its fishery like a resource worth managing. East Hawai\u2018i? We\u2019re still waiting for one marine reserve. Still fighting for one functioning ramp. Still watching the fish disappear without so much as a baseline count.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just frustrating \u2014 it\u2019s telling.<\/p>\n

Telling us who gets listened to. Who gets funded. And who gets left out, time and again.<\/p>\n

Sewage, Storms And A Failing System<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, our waters grow more polluted.<\/p>\n

Hilo\u2019s wastewater plant is crumbling, with raw sewage regularly spilling into Wailoa Harbor and the bay. Thousands of cesspools leak pathogens into the groundwater. Heavy rains overwhelm the system. Fishermen know to stay out of the water after storms. Surfers roll the dice. But kids still play where the runoff settles.<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s Parker Ranch \u2014 one of the nation\u2019s biggest. It boasts 130,000 acres upslope, with runoff that flows into the Wailoa River and beyond. And yet, we\u2019re still paying $10 to $15 a pound for ground beef. $30 for steak. Why? Because most of it is shipped away. Only 7% of Hawai\u2018i\u2019s beef stays here.<\/p>\n

And Suisan fades. And J Hara hears it. And the families who used to fish, stop.<\/p>\n

\"\"Since 1993, J Hara Store in Kurtistown has been a cornerstone of East Hawai\u2018i\u2019s fishing culture, selling not just gear, but human connection. (Will Bailey\/Civil Beat\/2025)<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t the cost of nature. It\u2019s the cost of neglect.<\/p>\n

A fishery doesn\u2019t collapse overnight. It dies slowly \u2014 boat by boat, ramp by ramp, runoff by runoff \u2014 until only the memories remain.<\/p>\n

But we still have choices.<\/p>\n

We can fund dredging, not just once, but regularly. We can build maintenance into the budget. We can invest in small-scale fishers the way we do in Kona\u2019s charters. We can establish marine reserves \u2014 with community input, not imposition. We can regulate the polluters, not just fine the fishermen. We can choose food security over export profits.<\/p>\n

\"\"Surfers still come, day after day, to Honoli\u2019i Beach Park. They are quiet stewards of Hilo Bay, sharing in its rise and fall. (Will Bailey\/Civil Beat\/2025)<\/p>\n

The east side still feeds people. But it\u2019s being starved of investment. And that\u2019s not just bad policy. It\u2019s wrong.<\/p>\n

Because a true fishery isn\u2019t just economics. It\u2019s culture. Resilience. Generations of knowledge passed through rod and line, tide and time.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a father teaching his son where the fish run. A grandmother frying up the day\u2019s catch. A neighbor walking into J Hara with just enough for a spool of line \u2014 and a quiet kind of hope.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s not let that disappear.<\/p>\n

Civil Beat\u2019s coverage of environmental issues on Hawai\u02bbi island is supported in part by a grant from the Dorrance Family Foundation.<\/p>\n

\"Civil<\/p>\n

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