KAHULUI - A pair of Molokai cultural practitioners who serve as conservationists and community organizers will be honored at the More Fish in the Sea - An Ocean Awareness Festival on Saturday in Kahului.
Merv Dudoit and Mac Poepoe will be saluted at the second annual festival that unfolds from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the makai lawn and beach area of Cary & Eddie's Hideaway Restaurant.
The event aims to raise awareness and launch actions to restore the health of Maui County coastal waters. Activities include educational booths, water-quality-testing lessons, reef surveys and a beach cleanup, plus a film festival in the restaurant banquet room.
Dudoit and Poepoe will receive the Malama I Ke Kai Kupuna Award. Dudoit is associated with Ka Honua Momona International, headquartered in Kaunakakai. The organization's vision is to serve as a worldwide indigenous model of sustainability, and its activities include removing invasive mangrove from the Ali'i and Kaloko'eli ancient fishponds.
Poepoe is co-founder of the 17-year-old Hui Malama O Mo'omomi, established to teach Molokai youth how to lead a sustainable fishing lifestyle - to "care for the ocean, take you what need. No need be greedy, just respect the ocean. And there's a proper time for taking" certain species, he has said.
Poepoe was the 2006 recipient of a lifetime achievement award from Hawaii's Living Reef Awards Program. He said he's unable to be present Saturday due to a veterans commitment on Molokai.
For more event information, contact the Hawaii Wildlife Fund at 280-8124 or wild@ aloha.net, or call Kenneth K. Martinez Burgmaier at 573-5530.
