Event Recap

Written in Lawai‘a Magazine:

October 11, 2009

Where can you find over 20,000 of Hawaii’s fishing and seafood enthusiasts enjoying a day of informative fishing workshops, interactive demonstrations, colorful fish displays, live local entertainment, keiki fish games, ono local seafood and tons of shopping opportunities? 

 Or, climb on the biggest fishing reel in the world and then duck under deck to check out the powerful motors that drive a Hawaii longline tuna boat? 

Or, find giggling kids running after a 5 foot silver fish for photos and then diving into an ice-filled life raft to construct a tropical snowman? 

 Where can you find all of this and, best of all, find it for FREE? 

Once again, it was all at the 4th Annual Hawaii Fishing and Seafood Festival that was held on October 11, 2009 at the Honolulu Fishing Village, Pier 38. 

The Pacific Islands Fishery Group (PIFG) themed its 2009 festival to honor Hawaii’s Fishing and Seafood Heritage. Based on the tremendous turnout, Hawaii’s fishing and seafood heritage continues to be alive and strong! 

This year we honored one of Hawaii’s favorite fishing celebrities, Mike Sakamoto, who recently lost his battle to cancer. The Sakamoto Gallery featured his wonderful watercolor and oil paintings, multimedia production work and fishing legacy. Sales from the Gallery, along with proceeds from the Mike Sakamoto Memorial Tournament held in September 2009, will contribute to a Memorial Scholarship Fund in his name that was established by PIFG and the Sakamoto family. The Scholarship will be made available to students pursuing degrees in natural or marine sciences, oceanography or related fields. For more information, visit www.fishtoday.org. 

PIFG also took the “fish auction” up a notch by hosting a live auction of original gyotaku fish prints by local artist Naoki.  Auctioneer, Nelson Aberilla, brought the standing room only crowd to a frenzy while auctioning a couple dozen of Naoki’s best framed and unframed pieces. The custom framed tako, which is the Festival’s famed mascot, initiated the frenzy and eventually sold for more than $700.  A percentage of the proceeds were donated to PIFG to support their numerous community programs, such as the State-wide Tagging Challenge, fishing outings with Boys and Girls Clubs and cooperative research projects.   

 If you missed us this year, mark your calendars and be sure to join us next year for our 5th anniversary Festival to be held on October 10, 2010 at Pier 38. Special activities and programs are being planned to celebrate our 5th Annual Hawaii Fishing and Seafood Festival. If you are interested in participating as a vendor, contributor or volunteer, contact us through our website at http://fishtoday.org.