Hi‘ilei Kawelo remembers hearing stories about schools of striped mullet migrating from one fishpond to the next between Pearl Harbor and Kaneohe Bay and she hopes a project begun last week will foster the return of the native fish in mass numbers as a common source of food in Hawaii.

"It’s more economical, more energy efficient and more sustainable," said Kawelo, executive director of Paepae o He‘eia, the nonprofit group restoring the fishpond at Heeia. "It works with the traditional system."

Some 28,000 baby mullets were released into pens at the 88-acre Heeia fishpond in a project to examine the feasibility of eventually growing and marketing the fish in a sustainable way.

The fish will feed on what’s available in the pond from Heeia Stream and the nearby ocean, including micro­algae and phytoplankton.

Workers plan to put structures within the pens to grow seaweed and also are planning to plug holes in the pond walls before releasing the fish from the pens.

Keli‘i Kotubetey, the pond’s assistant executive director, said the beauty of the project is that it’s self-sustaining.

"We can minimize the labor," he said. "We can minimize the human cost."

Kotubetey said growing the mullet is the first phase in the project and there are other tasks ahead.

"We’re going to figure how much it costto grow it …how much we can sell it for, how many people are interested in eating it," he said.

Pond officials said mullet is typically sold at a weight of1 to 3 pounds, although they can grow much larger. It will take about three years before the fish reach a size to be harvested, pond officials said.

The pens and fish were paid for by Conservation International, the Ulupono Initiative and the Harold K.L. Castle Foundation.

Pond officials have raised $55,000 of $100,000 in a campaign to close an 80-foot hole in the wall this year, while regular restoration and maintenance continues

"The work is never over," Kawelo said. "Just like anything else, like any other facility that gets used, there’s always things that need fixing."

Before western contact, Hawaiians relied on fishponds for a regular supply of fish when bad weather interrupted most other fishing practices, according to a Bishop Museum research paper by Marion Kelly. Herb- ivorefish such as mullet provided more protein than what was available through the natural food chain.

Oceanic Institute scientists helped to spawn the fish in January and reared them at a hatchery, where they were fed live plankton.

Chad Callan, director of the institute’s Finfish Program, said the green color of the pond means thereare enough nutrients for the mullet. "It’s OK to have green water," he said. "It’s food for our fish."

More than a dozen workers and volunteers associated with Paepae o He‘eia worked Tuesday with Finfish Program officials to transfer the fish from a tank on a truck, using buckets, to a container on a boat.

The boat then went out to each of three 1-acre pens made of plastic mesh.

Oceanic Institute scientists took three trips to transfer the fish to the pens in the pond.

The fish pond at Heeia was built 600 to 800 years ago, according to anthropologists.

It has gates to control the flow of salt water and gates to control the fresh water from the stream.

Hawaii Pacific University graduate student Carly Cappelluzzo, who is working with the Finfish Program, said striped mullethave the ability to survive in a wide range of salinity.

Cappelluzzo said various parts of the pond differ in salt content and she’s looking at the impact of water quality on the fish at different locations.

Two other fish ponds — Loko Ea Fishpond in Haleiwa and Keawanui Fishpond on Molokai — have also received mullet fingerlings as part of the project.

Luka Mossman, fisheries outreach coordinator for Conservation International Hawaii, said mullet was sold in Hawaii restaurants in the 1950s and 1960s.

But he and others acknowledge restaurant tastes have changed to favor carnivorefish, including ahi, mahimahi and opakapaka.

Mossman said pond supporters plan to work with restaurants in reviving interest in mullet.

"This project is revitalizing a traditional practice and moving it along into the 21st century," he said.