The dangerous pursuit for Hawaii’s ‘fish of death’

Braving pounding surf among slippery rocks, Hawaii residents and commercial fishers risk their lives harvesting opihi, a small limpet or shellfish, one of the Islands’ costliest delicacies.

In a dangerous dance with the ocean, these opihi pickers pry as many of them as they can loose from the rocks — which the shellfish cling to tenaciously — before the next wave rolls in. 

One miscalculation means the opihi picker is in danger of being ripped off the rocks and swept away into strong currents that even the best swimmers are no match for. It’s so dangerous that a traditional Hawaiian proverb, “He ia make ka opihi,” refers to opihi as the “fish of death.”

The saying still holds true. Between 2013 and 2022, there were 16 ocean drownings recorded due to picking opihi, according to Daniel Galanis, an epidemiologist with the Hawaii State Department of Health. 

This past summer, two Hawaii Island opihi pickers made the news. In July, police found a man dead in waters offshore after he went picking opihi. A couple weeks earlier, a 29-year-old woman went missing after failing to return home after opihi picking. She remains missing. Opihi-related deaths and disappearances like these have been reported in Hawaiian language newspapers from as far back as the 19th century. 

Data shows that most of the drownings actually happen off Hawaii Island, aka the Big Island. Among all opihi picker deaths from 1993 to 2022, said Galanis, 25 out of 42, or 59%, of these fatal drownings occurred on Hawaii Island.

In fact, opihi picking is one of the top causes of ocean-related deaths for Hawaii Island residents. “Shoreline activities, such as fishing and picking opihi, account for more than one-third of fatal ocean drownings among Big Island residents,” said assistant fire chief Darwin Okinaka in a 2020 beach safety news release.

The love for opihi stems from Hawaii’s cultural history. Eaten raw or cooked, opihi has always been an important part of the Native Hawaiian diet. It was served as food for babies. It was used as medicine. The hard shells were turned into tools for scraping, peeling and scooping.

“The opihi were extremely well liked as a food item and in fact were reportedly the most commonly eaten shells in the Hawaiian islands,” wrote Margaret Titcomb in the research paper “Native Use of Marine Invertebrates in Old Hawaii.” “Even in 1969, opihi were an important part of the diet of most of the Hawaiian families living near the shore.”

In Hawaii, there are three endemic species of opihi, meaning they are not found anywhere else: the alinalina (yellow-footed), the koele (the giant kneecap limpet) and the makaiauli (dark-footed). Following Western contact, opihi populations declined for many reasons, such as overharvesting, shoreline development and pollution. Certain opihi, like koele, are now rare, especially on Kauai and Oahu. 

State law introduced in the 1970s set a minimum size opihi must be before it can be taken or sold. “In addition, there are certain place-based regulations that have additional opihi restrictions,” said David Sakoda, fisheries program manager for the Hawaii State Department of Land and Natural Resources.

Fewer opihi to pick coupled with unwavering demand means higher prices. Commercial fishers can command up to $400 per gallon in peak periods, like graduation season.

It also means more risk for opihi pickers, as they must look harder to find opihi. Often, this means gathering the shellfish in less populated, harder-to-get-to places that make the task even more dangerous than it already is.

Editor’s note: SFGATE recognizes the importance of diacritical marks in the Hawaiian language. We are unable to use them due to the limitations of our publishing platform.