Walled Fish Traps of Pearl Harbor. 



Bv John F. G. Stokes. 



Among the few remaining evidences of early Hawaiian life 

 are the walled fish traps, pounds or weirs at the entrance to Pearl 

 Harbor, Oahu. They are particularly interesting as not occurring 

 elsewhere in the group, probably for the reason that conditions 

 favorable to their operation are only to be found at this one place. 



The Hawaiians have had for many years a system of raising 

 fish for food within ponds and walled enclosures, called loko, ad- 

 jacent to the sea, the varieties being confined to such shore fishes 

 as amaama {Mugil cephalus Linnaeus), and azca {Chanos chanos 

 Forskal), and an occasional moi {Polydadyhis sexjilis Cuv. & ^'al.), 

 kak2i {Sphyrcena snodgrassi Jenkins), or oopichue {Tetraodon sp.) 

 which may have entered the pond when young. The system is still 

 in use in all the islands, more particularly on Molokai' and Oahu, 

 and has already been referred to by Dr. J. X. Cobb.- There was also 

 a method of taking fish in weirs in the mountain torrents, in which 

 the stream was dammed with a transverse wall just above the 

 rapids and conducted by means of a canal over a horizontal sieve 

 of long slender sticks lying parallel and close together. During 

 floods, when the waters of the stream were rendered muddy, great 

 quantities of oopu (fresh water gobies) were caught in these weirs. 



The Pearl Harbor fish traps on the other hand were used for 

 the purpose of taking the ocean fishes which had entered the har- 

 bor, the principal being the akzile ( Trachurops crunicnophthalma 

 Bloch), oio {Albula vulpcs Linnaeus), iceke (Mulloidcs and Pscudu- 

 peiieiis sp.), 2.\\A pualu (Hepafiis gimthe?'i ]en\;.ms) , and the maki- 

 awa {Etrumeus microptis Schlegel) . Occasionally other fishes were 

 taken in small numbers such as kaicakazi^a and aku {Gymnosarda 

 sp.), opelu {Dccaptcrus pinnulaius Eyd. & vSoul.), sharkskin fact 



' On this island, use was made of yen' large ponds, in the walls of which 

 were numerous entrances and exits — the fish being netted while attempting 

 to pass through. It is hoped to illustrate these structures at a later date. 



^U. S. Fish Commission Bulletin, vol. xxiii, pt. 2, p. 746. 



[199] ^23) 



