From "Our Honolulu" by Bob Krauss, Sunday, October 27, 1996

Hawaii Kai's old friends of the fishponds

I hope the folks in charge of the second annual "Rediscover Hawaii Kai" celebration on Nov. 9 and 10 rediscover Joe Young and his brother, Harry, before it's over. There aren't many like them around anymore.

Lukela, the fisherman, is gone. And Choy, who tended the gates at Kuapa Pond, went back to China long before the fishpond became Koko Marina.

Joe and Harry can tell you about them because their father, Young Fong, was the last successful operator of the fishpond where Hawaii Kai is now. Joe is a now a retired dentist and Harry, an engineer.

Joe and Harry were there from 1937 to 1947. Lukela, the konohiki (owner of the fishing rights) of Maunalua Bay chased people off the beach with a shotgun. Mullet from the pond brought 25 cents. On a good week, Kuapa Pond produced a ton of mullet and awa, or milkfish. That's $500 worth.

A shipment of mullet was so valuable that Young Fong locked the wire-mesh bed of his truck before sending a load to market. That way, the driver couldn't stop and sell some fish on the side.

The fish-stall operator had a duplicate key to unlock the truck and the fish were weighed on both ends to make sure none had disappeared.

Harry and his father lived and breathed fishponds. Maybe it was because his ancestral village in China was surrounded by them. He came to Hawaii at age 17 in 1898.

Joe said his father operated the Ah Ki Grocery at the fishmarket in partnership with two brothers. Among them, the three brothers had 28 children, so the stock of groceries fed the families as well as made money.

On the side, Young Fong operated fishponds: Hakipu in Kaneohe, then a pond at the mouth of Halawa Stream, then Waikele Pond in Pearl Harbor below Waipahu.

In 1937, Young Fong quit the grocery business and leased Kuapa Pond out.

The Youngs lived in a big, two-story frame house by the road, fishnets drying on racks. Three Chinese fishpond workers, all bachelors, bunked in another house. They also tended the vegetable garden.

Everybody ate at the same table. Mrs. Young did the cooking.

Their neighbor was Joe Lukela. He'd spot a school of akule from the beach, go out in his 30-foot sampan and lay his nets.

Mother Lucas lived down the shore. She guarded her fishing rights the way Lukela did his.

One time, Young Fong's workers were scooping baby mullet during spawning season along the shore from Black Point to Maunalua Bay to stock the pond.

When they got to Mother Lucas' place, she chased them away. Young Fong brought her a present of fish to apologize for their rudeness. After that, they could come anytime.

From "Chinese Historic Sites and Pioneer Families of Rural Oahu," compiled and edited by Wai Jane and Tin-Yuke Chan, 1988, published by Hawaii Chinese History's Center

The Fishpond

In 1867 there were recorded a few changes in the ownership of the fishpond at Maunalua. Lease of the fishpond was made at that time to LAU Akau for the "same hefty sum charged earlier." LAU was granted leases as of August 16, 1883, and December 3, 1898. Princess Kamamalu also leased the "entire Maunalua ili (land section) including the fishpond to Charles R. Bishop." Eventually it became Bishop Estate property after Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop had inherited vast royal land holdings of the Kamehameha's in 1883. Today Kuapa Pond is a private body of water leased from Bishop Estate by Kacor Development Company. It is no longer a fishpond but is used for recreation. Kacor Development Company is Henry Kaiser's real estate development at Hawaii Kai. It includes all of the valley from the foothill of Koko Head Crater to Kaluanui Ridge just west of the pond and inward into the head of Maunalua Valley.

According to the Marine Atlas of Hawaii Bays and Harbors, 1974: "Until the 1930s the pond was separated from the ocean by only a narrow beach ridge. The beach strip was then widened when a highway was built along it. The pond has now been reduced by dredging and the entrance has been enlarged for small boat navigation and drainage."

John Josa, former konohiki in charge of the fishing waters at Maunalua Bay outside of Kuapa Pond, remarks about the fishponds:

The estate owns the fishpond – leased out. I remember two owners – Mr. Young and then Mr. Luke. They raised mullett... They caught a lot of fish... picked right out of the gate. There were a few gates right here where the bridge is... The walk had land... you could walk across, between the pond and the ocean... The only time the pond overflowed was when we had big heavy rains, every few years... The fish would come out on the road...

They specialized in mullet... They went in the bay to catch the baby mullets and throw them into the pond... Mullets don't breed in the pond...

Chinese utilized Hawaiian fishponds after they fell into disuse due to dwindling population or imposition of new land and lease ownership practices.

The Kuapa Pond study included an oral interview with Mun On CHUN, realtor, who on April 30, 1975, said, "I knew Mr. Young, one of the owners. He didn't do too badly. He worked the fishpond occasionally but had four or five men helping him... He had a food stall or owned part of the market downtown. The mullet were good. We used to help him catch the barracuda and ulua (jack-fish) that threatened the mullet. There were also crabs."

Mr. YOUNG was one of five brothers, YOUNG Ki, YOUNG Lum (who returned to China), YOUNG Fong, YOUNG Yung, and YOUNG Doong (who did not come to Hawaii). Those in Hawaii were all connected in some way or other with stalls at Oahu Market. Today the YOUNG Yung vegetable stall is very much a part of Oahu Market and is managed by YOUNG Yung's daughter, Becky Choy Kehrwieder, with help from her daughter Bessie. Many old-timers remember the three YOUNG brothers and their fish and vegetable stalls at the market.

Old-timers also remember that the YOUNG brothers built three houses of the same architectural design in Kaimuki on Waialae Avenue at Seventh Avenue. The houses were on a little rise and easily seen when riding the street car to the end of the line at Koko Head Avenue. When built by City Mill, each cost $5,000 for the house and lot. They were the first houses built in the area.

The three YOUNG brothers were the sons of YOUNG Hin Yipp and HEE SHEE. Their daughters did not come to Hawaii.

The owner of the fishpond was YOUNG Fong (1880-1952). YOUNG Fong's son, Harry Wan Chun YOUNG, retired Pearl Harbor engineer, wrote a colorful story about his father.

The account in Chinese said:

YOUNG Fong came from Chungshan, Kwangtung. His ancestral village was Sun Ming Ting. He was born in 1878 and came to Hawaii in 1897. He first worked in a sugar mill and then went into the fish business. In 1911 he established and managed the Ah Ki Company at Oahu Fish Market. He was there for twenty-nine years.

When Dr. SUN Yat-Sen was in Hawaii to gain support for revolution in China, YOUNG lent vigorous support to this cause.

Mrs. YOUNG was WONG Shee. They had six sons and three daughters. The eldest son was an electrical engineer and the second son an architect. All were working for the United States government. His grandsons were three and granddaughter, one (in 1950).

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