COMMERCIAL FISHERIES OF THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 407 
The Chinese use a form of dip net on the Waiawa River, near Pearl 
City, Oahu, which was probably introduced by themselves, as it does 
not appear elsewhere on the islands. The river is narrow, about 40 
feet in width. Four poles are planted, two on the edge of the bank, 
and the other two about two-thirds of the distance across the river, 
thus forming a square. All of these poles are slanted outward, so 
much so that the tips of the outer ones almost extend to the opposite 
bank. A large, square, fine-meshed net is attached to these poies by 
ropes. On the shore a windlass is constructed, which is connected 
with the net by a rope, and this is used in raising and lowering it. 
When fishing, bait is thrown into the net, which is then lowered down 
into the water until it almost touches the bottom. It is allowed to 
remain there until a number of fish have congregated over the net, 
eating the bait, when it is raised above the surface and the fish 
removed. 
A scoop net is made by tying a square fine-meshed net to two slender 
sticks, laid parallel to each other and about 5 feet apart. One side of 
the net is then gathered together until the ends of the sticks on that 
side are within about a foot of each other, when it is secured in this 
position. This forms a rude sort of bag at the gathered end. In 
operating it the two ends of the sticks at the bag end are held in one 
hand and the flaring end is pushed around stones, etc., in shailow water, 
thus scooping up the fish, papai, and opai. By lifting the flaring end 
out of the water the catch falls back into the bag, from whence they 
are easily removed with the hand. This net is quite generailv used 
around the leeward side of Oahu. 
CAST NETS. 
The cast net (upena poepoe) is a comparatively recent introduction 
in the islands, having, so it is reported, been brought in by the Japanese 
about ten years ago, although this is somewhat doubtful. The nets, 
which are circular, average about 25 feet in circumference and have 
14-inch mesh. They have leads all around the sides and are made 
generally of No. 10 cotton twine. They are worked from the shore. 
Unlike the fishermen in the States, the Japanses hold no part of the 
net in the mouth, but manipulate it entirely with the hands. About 
two-thirds of the outer edge of the net is gathered up in the hands of 
the fishermen, and when he sees a school of fish he throws the net with 
a sort of twirling motion, which causes it to open wide before it 
touches the water. The leads draw the outer edges of the net down 
very rapidty, and as they come together at the bottom the fish are 
inclosed ina sort of bag. The net is then hauled in by means of a 
rope attached to its center, the weight of the leads causing them to hang 
close together, thus preventing the fish from falling out as the net is 
hauled in. The fish are shaken out of the net by merely lifting the 
lead line on one side. 
