Wehewehe Wikiwiki Hawaiian language dictionaries

Island in Maui County, 11 miles long, 6 miles wide, with an area of 45 square miles. It is uninhabited and is used as a bombing target by the U.S. Navy. See Kohemālamalama. Literally, the carrying away (by currents).

1. Island, Maui County. The smallest of the eight major Hawaiian Islands (about 45 square miles). The highest point on the island is 1,477 feet above sea level. The emblem of the island is the pua hinahina (Heliotropium anomalum). 2. Island reserve, Maui County. In 1993, the Hawaiʻi State Legislature passed Chapter 6K Hawaiʻi Revised Statutes, which established the Kahoʻolawe Island Reserve to include the island of Kahoʻolawe and the submerged lands and waters extending 2 miles from its shore. Under the law, the island is to be used exclusively for the following purposes: "a. preservation and practice of all rights customarily and traditionally exercised by native Hawaiians for cultural, spiritual, and subsistence purposes; b. preservation and protection of its archaeological, historical, and environmental resources; c. rehabilitation, revegetation, habitat restoration, and preservation; and d. education." Commercial uses are strictly prohibited. Chapter 6K also provides for the eventual transfer of the Kahoʻolawe Island Reserve to the sovereign native Hawaiian entity as follows: "Upon its return to the State, the resources and waters of Kahoʻolawe shall be held in trust as part of the public land trust; provided that the State shall transfer management and control of the island and its waters to sovereign native Hawaiian entity upon its recognition by the United States and the State of Hawaiʻi. In the interim, the island is managed by the Kahoʻolawe Island Reserve Commission." 3. Point light, Kealaikahiki, Kahoʻolawe. Established in 1928 at Kealaikahiki Point. A 20-foot skeleton tower approximately 100 feet above sea level. Lit., the carrying away [by currents].