2.1.1 The NWHI are of particular importance because
of their significance in Native Hawaiian history and culture. The
NWHI have long been considered a sacred place in Native Hawaiian traditions,
and two of the islands in particular contain important archaeological
sites (Kikiloi 2006). Early Polynesian voyagers, in their trans-Pacific
voyages aboard large double-hulled sailing canoes, were the first
humans to arrive in the NWHI, as early as 1000 A.D. Early Hawaiians
lived on Nihoa for an estimated 700 years, but this occupation mysteriously
ceased before Captain Cook’s first landing in Hawaii in 1778
(Citizen’s Guide 2006). Their early presence is evidenced by
numerous sites on Nihoa and Mokumanamana (Necker), which are listed
on both United States and State of Hawaii Registers of Historic Places
for their cultural and historical significance. Together, the two
islands have 140 recorded cultural sites, including ceremonial, residential,
and agricultural sites, some which resemble historically important
Polynesian sites in Tahiti and the Marqueses (Emory 1928; Cleghorn
1988; Liller 2000; Kawaharada 2001; Kikiloi 2006). These sites are
being studied to increase the understanding of the connection between
Native Hawaiian culture and the early Polynesians.
2.1.2 Oral traditions also confirm the relationship
of the islands to ancestral Native Hawaiians, and recent ethnological
studies have highlighted the continuity of traditional practices in
the NWHI. Native Hawaiian cultural practitioners continue to voyage
to the NWHI to honour their ancestors and perpetuate these practices.
In 1997, Hui Mälama i Nä Küpuna o Hawaii’s Nei,
a group dedicated to the repatriation of ancestral remains, returned
sets of iwi (bones) to Nihoa and Mokumanamana (Necker). In 2003, the
voyaging canoe Hōkūle`a travelled to Nihoa
so that a group could conduct traditional ceremonies. In 2004, the Hōkūle`a sailed to Kure Atoll, and in 2005 it took
a group to Mokumanamana (Necker) for ceremonies on the summer solstice
(Citizen’s Guide 2006). Finally, underscoring the importance
of the NWHI marine ecosystem in Native Hawaiian culture, oral traditions
identify the coral polyp as the first living creature to emerge on
Earth and the foundation and the building block of all other life
in the sea (Friedlander et al. 2005b). It follows that
ensuring a healthy, intact ecosystem in the NWHI plays an important
role in perpetuating Native Hawaiian cultural traditions.