The center of today’s U. S. Pacific fleet, Pearl Harbor has a history dating to early Hawaiian fishponds that supplied the population of West O`ahu. Embedded in the harbor’s one 150 year history is a story of capture and destruction of an important food system, enclosure of the harbor’s waters for U. S. commercial and national security interests, militarization of an island, ecological damage, and chemical pollution. This paper traces that history and discusses the human consequences of the globalization of commercial and military interests in Pearl Harbor’s waters.