12/26/24 – Kala (Naso unicornis) Stock Assessment Project in Maui County
Maui DAR staff Hal Koike and Cole Peralto (at right) with a commercial net fishing crew after completing a kala fishing trip out of Mala Warf, Lahaina.
In March of this year new statewide herbivore fish regulations went into effect which require all commercial fishers and dealers to obtain commercial permits to catch and/or sell kala. These new rules were introduced in response to concerns over the kala population declining statewide. DAR Maui is now working with the local commercial kala fishermen, dealers, and researchers at the Fishery Research Cooperative Unit at University of Hawai‘i Hilo to assess how kala are doing in more depth.
Kala in the display bin at a Maui fish market. Local fish dealers are allowing DAR staff to measure and weigh all their kala as part of this study. Staff also purchase some of the fish to conduct further sampling.
Maria Angst extracting otoliths from a kala. Maria is working with the USGS Fisheries Cooperative Research Unit while working on her master’s degree at the University of Hawai‘i, Hilo campus.
The goal of this study is to determine the exact kala spawning season in Maui waters, look into kala aggregation and determine if they are grouping up for spawning and/or feeding, and most importantly to estimate the kala population structure (stock health) around the water of Maui and Moloka‘i.
DAR staff and collaborative researchers will be collecting detailed measurements of fish length and weight from fish captured by commercial net fishers on Maui, and subsistence spear and net fishers on Moloka‘i. In addition, a portion of captured fish will be sampled to extract gonads to look at maturity and spawning cycles, stomachs to look at their diet, and ear bones to determine their age. A graduate student from Moloka‘i will be utilizing this information for her thesis with an emphasis on pono science and community engagement. Furthermore, some of the sampled kala are being donated to a local Hawaiian cultural practitioner, to create traditional piniu drum for hula utilizing the skin form the kala.
The project is planned to continue through the end of December 2025. If you are interested in this study or would like to participate, please email Hal Koike or visit our Wailuku DAR office to talk story!
Aquatic biologist Hal Koike and fishery monitoring coordinator Cole Peralto work on cleaning and conducting biological sampling of some kala while other Maui staff look on.