Outside Hawaiʻi TV

A Witness to Life

Cal Hirai, who lived most of his life “behind the scenes,” made a tremendous impact on people and places in Hawaiʻi and the Pacific.  While his life was cut short on December 12, 2020 due to cancer, he made his indelible mark in media with a purpose, and his work will continue to educate generations to come. 

Natural Interests

Cal was a family man and a fisherman, taking after his father.  He worked on an aku boat and did some recreational pole fishing but his real love was spearfishing as a free diver.  He did not fish only for recreation -- he fished to catch and eat!  He became a good cook and knew how to prepare all the seafood he caught such as reef fish, octopus, and lobster.  Cal was a world traveler going to islands in the Pacific including nearly all Hawaiian Islands, Palau, Tahiti, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, England, Spain, Morocco, and various places in the continental United States, including Florida where he swam with the manatees.  His favorite place was the Marshall Islands in Micronesia, a place he visited probably a dozen times.  On each of his travels, he chronicled stories through his camera lens and captured not only stunning images of nature but also interviews with local people who shared their real life stories.

A turning point in his career and worldview was his trip to the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (now known as Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument).  He participated on the outreach team on the first NOWRAMP (reef assessment and monitoring program) in 2002.  Swimming with ulua and sharks bigger than himself, and seeing thriving coral reef ecosystems, he was sold on conservation.  He became a stalwart communicator for their causes and was not afraid or ashamed to be considered a conservationist even though some of his fishing and hunting buddies might have thought differently.

Contributions to Society

Cal’s show on Outside Hawaiʻi is perhaps the only locally produced and consistently running series that tell stories about invasive species (e.g., roi, wiliwili gall wasp, coconut rhinoceros beetle, invasive snails/rat lungworm) as well as native species (e.g., seabirds, forest birds, sea turtles, monk seals, reef and pelagic fishes, native plants) and native ecosystems (e.g., coral reefs, estuaries, forests).  He was an advocate of place-based education and loved working with youth and teachers from Waiʻanae through the Mālama Learning Center.  Cal worked with nearly every conservation agency in Hawaiʻi to tell their stories in ways that tens of thousands of local people could relate through his statewide television show at prime time. He received the Lifetime Achievement Award from OC16 in 2016, which he accepted with his long-time host and close friend, Jenn Boneza.

Calʻs last wish was to have his show, Outside Hawaiʻi, continued as a vehicle for change and he gave this kuleana and privilege to the Mālama Learning Center.