Climate change has become the most pressing challenge for ocean voyagers
Fifty years ago, when Hōkūleʻa set sail on its maiden voyage, the focus was to revive Hawaiʻi’s connection to ocean voyaging and then to perpetuate the tradition for future generations. However, as voyaging looks toward its next chapter, a challenge has emerged and it’s not one that can be ignored.
“The No. 1 challenge that’s coming up right now is climate change. It’s seriously a part of our conversation now,” said Chadd Paishon Pwo navigator and executive director of Nā Kālai Waʻa. The nonprofit launched Hawaiʻi Island’s voyaging canoe, Makaliʻi, 30 years ago.
“For us, the final factor in saying, ‘Yes, we’re going to go,’ or not, is weather,” Paishon said. “And now that weather has shifted so much, you know, will this be a factor of maybe we won’t sail long as often, but that’s what we have to continue to look at. Because even for our families down in the South Pacific, they’re seeing such a difference in their seasons right now that they’ve never seen before.”
Climate change is warming the ocean and storms thrive in warmer ocean temperatures.
In the last century, the temperature rose between one-half and one degree Fahrenheit, and Hawaiʻi’s average temperature could increase 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century, according to the State of Hawaiʻi Climate Change Portal.
The hotter ocean temperatures intensify and fuel hurricanes. There’s no telling, though, how intense the storms will end up being.
“Essentially, we have to train harder now for the storm than we’ve ever trained before,” said Nainoa Thompson, Pwo navigator and CEO of the Polynesian Voyaging Society. “It’s always been about our relationship with nature and we’re having to build a relationship to a fast-changing natural world, one which humanity has never faced before, in terms of the pace of change.”
The data scares him, he said, but he believes in the younger generation, and he wants them to be prepared for the storms. “What the data is showing is that there’s not necessarily more hurricanes, but it’s showing that they’re more intense, they’re stronger, and the length of time of dangerous days per storm has increased,” he said.
This means there could be shorter windows for canoes to sail between hurricanes, and plans need to be made ahead of time on how to avoid a severe storm if one appears. “It’s all about decisions on when to go and when not to go, where to go, where to hide,” Thompson continued. The places to hide are usually where there have been no hurricanes historically or at the Equator, where the Coriolis Effect prevents hurricanes from forming there.
“We’re like hurricane-hole-hopping. It’s much more complicated, but it’s required us to know a lot more about nature,” Thompson said. “We’re looking at Earth systems. And if you don’t understand the systems, you can’t predict the weather. But if you do understand the systems, then it helps you to be able to make better decisions.”
Hōkūleʻa is about to continue its Moananuiākea voyage, which is intended to travel 43,000 nautical miles to 36 countries. Thompson said that this voyage will be the most dangerous and riskiest because it crosses around the South China Sea and the Philippine Sea, where the ocean is the hottest in the world and where there is a high probability of hurricanes (known as typhoons in that region).
He said they have multiple plans in place depending upon the weather, ranging anywhere from not going at all to diverting to other places. Additionally, an escort boat will accompany Hōkūleʻa and sister canoe Hikianalia, and its crew will also help keep an eye on the weather.
Thompson said the changing climate is forcing them to ask different questions now than they did in the past. The crew is also using advanced technology to give them the most accurate weather and atmospheric information when they’re on the ocean.
Whether or not climate change would ever prevent voyaging in the future is unknown at this point.
“For us in voyaging, we’re going to keep voyaging. We’re going to keep sailing until the data shows us that it’s beyond the safety envelope,” Thompson said. “We’re not there yet. So we’re going to continue the voyage. But we have to alter. We have to adapt. We have to learn.”
One of the best investments, Thompson said, is in the future generations, as they will be learning and training with more information and research than ever before. These up-and-coming generations will be relied upon to tackle climate change and determine how best to weather the storms. “We’re in the most important time ever for the world to have explorers,” Thompson said.
“We need to help our young people be great navigators, not necessarily on canoes, but in the issues of making the best kinds of adaptation to change in the world.”
