Indigenous Values and the Law of the Sea

Abstract

This article proposes that Native Hawaiians reclaim sovereignty over the waters and islands of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. The islands, also known as Papahānaumokuākea, are currently managed by two agencies of the United States and the State of Hawai`i as a National Monument comprising some 140,000 square miles.5 Sovereignty or a quasi-sovereign trusteeship over those islands and waters would give Native Hawaiians the power to implement their concepts of ocean governance.