COMMERCIAL FISHERIES OF THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 3897 
At Pearl Harbor, Oahu, the Chinese use what is practically a purse 
seine, which is 50 fathoms long, 20 fathoms deep, with a mesh of 1 
inch in the center and 13 inches in the wings. The bottom of the net 
has rings, with a rope running through them. After the fish are sur- 
rounded the lower line is pulled up by the fishermen. The bottom 
comes up together, thus forming a bag or purse on each side, and this 
is pulled in until the fish are all in a small bag on each side of the 
boat, whence they are dipped out by means of small scoop nets. 
The bait seines average from 10 to 60 yards in length, with one-half 
inch mesh or less. They are quite generally used by all classes of line 
fishermen in securing their bait. No. 3 cotton twine is generally used 
in the manufacture of these seines. 
GILL NETS. 
The gill-net is a popular form of apparatus in the fisheries at the 
present time. They are either set or hauled; rarely, if ever, being 
drifted. When set they are generally stretched, at high tide, across the 
shallow openings in the coral reefs. As the tide goes out the fish rush 
for these openings and become meshed in the net. The fishermen are 
on the seaward side of the net and pass to and fro, removing the fish 
as fast as-caught. This fishing is carried on at night, and the nets are 
of varying lengths and depths, according to where fished. 
In fishing around clusters of rocks the natives generally surround 
them with a gill-net. This is held to the bottom by means of leads 
or pebbles attached to the lower line, while the upper line is supported 
at the surface by pieces of wood of the hau (//biscus tiliaceus) and 
kukui (Aleurites triloba), which are very light. The fishermen then 
dive down to the bottom, inside of the net, and drive the fishes from 
the crevices of the rocks, and as they dart away in all directions they 
are meshed in the net. In this kind of fishing nets about 55 feet in 
length and 7 feet deep are used. When this net is not long enough 
one or more nets are laced to it. 
Gill nets are also used at times along the beaches on the leeward side 
of the islands, where the surf is not heavy, the same as seines. Two 
men take hold of one end of a long net and wade out from the shore 
in a straight line for a considerable distance. The land end of the-net 
is held by a man on the beach. After they have gone out a sufficient 
distance, the two men make a big sweep to one side and then pull their 
end of the net to shore a short distance from the other man. The net 
is then carefully pulled in, the same as a haul seine, until it comes out 
on the beach, fish and all. These nets are usually 20 fathoms in length, 
9 feet deep, with 2-inch mesh, and are fitted with leads and corks. 
Several of them are usually joined together. No boats are employed 
when fishing in this manner. 
When fishing for ula (crawfish), the same style of net, with a 7-inch 
mesh, is frequently set around a rock or cluster of rocks in the early 
evening and allowed to remain there all night. As the ula come out to 
