REPORT ON THE INQUIRY RESPECTING FOOD-PISHES AND 

 THE FISHING-GROUNDS. 



By Hunu "M. Smith, AssiMniit in. Charge. 



COASTAL AND MARINE INVESTIGATIONS AND EXPERIMENTS. 

 FISHES AND FISHERIES OF HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 



Reference was made in the report for the fiscal year endiii<^- June 30, 

 IDOI, to the party sent by the Commission to the Hawaiian Islands to 

 make the investigation of the fisheries of those islands called for by the 

 act of Congress of April 30, 1900. The investigations were carried on 

 during the summer of 1901 and completed as far as the circumstances 

 permitted. Most of the islands were visited; the fishery methods, 

 appliances, laws, and customs were studied; a thorough statistical can- 

 vass of the commercial fisheries was made, and a very large and valu- 

 able collection of fishes was obtained. A preliminary report on the 

 investigations submitted to the President in January, 1902, and by him 

 transmitted to Congress, was printed as a special document (H. R. Doc. 

 No. 21:9, Fifty-seventh Congress, first session). 



It having been determined to continue the investigation of the 

 aquatic resources of the Territory, more especially those in the deeper 

 water, the steamer Alhatross was detailed for the work, and Dr. D. S. 

 Jordan, of Stanford University, was given general charge. The Alba- 

 tross was fitted out in San Francisco, and sailed for Hawaii on March 11 

 with a party of naturalists, mostly from Stanford Universitj". The 

 vessel was engaged in this service at the close of the fiscal year. 



DESTRUCTIVENESS OF SEA LIONS. 



For a number of years the damage supposed to be done to fish and 

 fishing gear by sea lions has been receiving much attention from the 

 fishery interests of the west coast, and the S3^stematic killing of the 

 sea lions has been undertaken in some localities and planned in others, 

 under either State or private auspices.^' 



The following article, from the San Francisco Bulletin, is a fairly 

 conservative statement of the fishermen's views: 



Fishermen of the North Pacific coast are undertaking a movement for the destruc- 

 tion of the sea lions, the inveterate enemies of salmon and other food-fishes, and 

 which annually make incalculable ravages in the schools of chinooks, steel heads, 



"According to an oflacial communication, dated January 29, 1903, received througli the Depart- 

 ment of State from Mr. Victor E. Nelson. I'niti-d States consul at Bergen, Norway, similar charges 

 are made against the Greenland seal I I'hoc.i iiki ulnndica). It is stated that "the cod have been 

 driven entirely away from those parts oi 1 1 1. ■ ci lasi i ( if Norway) where the seals appear in great masses, ' 

 and the Government has included in the Innlget the sums of 4,000 kroner ($1,072) for killing the seals 

 and 15,000 kroner ($4,020) for other repressive measures. 



Ill 



