A recently completed 14-day scientific voyage to the remote Northwestern Hawaiian Islands raises the hope that steps taken now to protect and limit the take of ocean resources throughout the island chain will ensure sustainability for future generations.

That was the message a team of nine marine biologists, scientists and Hawaiian cultural specialists brought back Friday after a visit to the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument on Friday. The team participated in the first intertidal monitoring expedition that took a close look of the coastal shorelines of the islands of Nihoa, Mokumanamana, La Perouse Pinnacle in French Frigate Shoals, and Gardner Pinnacles. The monument is the largest protected marine area and is managed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the state of Hawaii.

Randy Kosaki, deputy superintendent of Papahanaumokuakea, said, "This also was the first time we integrated traditional Hawaiian knowledge with western science."

He said that since the monument was created on June 15, 2006, past expeditions have focused on the ocean using larger 200-foot NOAA survey vessels where divers spent all of their time in depths of 30 to 80 feet.

But no data were collected on the intertidal zones — the rocky shoreline between the high and low tide areas — where shellfish like opihi are found.

"It’s a difficult environment to work," Kosaki said.

For nearly two weeks the scientists anchored their 96-foot vessel Searcher offshore and took a smaller boat to islands like 171-acre Nihoa, 280 miles northwest of Kauai and the first in the national monument system; and 45-acre Mokumanamana, which is not protected by any reefs.

"Compared to the main Hawaiian islands, the rocky shorelines within the monument are pristine and host many species of invertebrates, fish and seaweeds but it’s a challenging place to work," said marine biologist Chris Bird.

This was Bird’s third trip to the northwestern islands.

Shauna Kehaunani Springer, a University of Hawaii trained cultural researcher and marine biologist, said "the intertidal shorelines are where native Hawaiian women went to gather while men fished."

She said opihi and haukeuke (helmet urchin) were eaten and their shells used as tools for everything from scraping taro and coconut to imprinting kapa cloth.

Springer described the islands as being "very spiritual. It’s a very powerful place."

"You feel so tiny," she added. "There is a lot of mana there, a lot of spirituality.

"While working in Papahanaumokuakea, it was our responsibility to make sure we honored the areas we worked by offering chants and small gifts of water and salt prior to conducting any of our activities."

Every team member recorded weather, tide currents, sun, moon and species interaction data.

Brian Villiarimo, another Hawaiian cultural specialist who manages Na Mamo O Muolea ahupuaa in Hana, said: "You can really see the potential of what the eight main Hawaiian islands could look like if we all aimed to harvest responsibly.

"I think a lot of our cultural experiences from our kupuna still exists there."

He said current scientific data collected on expeditions and the traditional knowledge of ancient Hawaiians "can help us restore and manage resources."

The area’s designation as a national monument established permanent protection for nearly 140,000 square miles of U.S. land and waters.

Kosaki said the monument, which includes Kure and Midway atolls at its northern boundaries, only consists of five square miles of land.

He noted that although opihi has virtually been wiped out in certain areas of the main Hawaiian islands, it thrives in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.

"Ancient Hawaiians were able to manage their resources," Kosaki added.

The scientific data gathered during these expeditions, Kosaki said, along with the knowledge left behind by native Hawaiians can be applied "so our children and their children will have opihi to eat."

Team members on the Searcher were from the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, the Scripps Institute of Oceanography in San Diego and the Nature Conservancy.