COMMERCIAL FISHERIES OF THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 457 
THE FISHERIES CONSIDERED BY ISLANDS. 
Commercial fishing is prosecuted on the islands of Oahu, Hawaii, 
Maui, Molokai, Kauai, Lanai, and Niihau. Fishing is also carried on 
_about some of the smaller islands of the group, but it is done by fish- 
ermen from the above-named islands. While the fisheries are of con- 
siderable importance now, they could easily be expanded if the proper 
efforts and attention were given to them. For many years the native 
Hawaiians held a monopoly of the industry, but of late years the 
Japanese have been engaging in it in large numbers. The natives fish 
spasmodically, as a rule, while the Japanese give to it their whole 
time and attention, and as a result they are doing much better finan- 
cially than the former. It is probable that the commercial fisheries 
will be entirely in the hands of the Japanese on certain islands within 
the next ten years if they increase at the rate they have during the 
past six or seven years. 
At present but little deep-sea fishing is done by the fishermen, 
although this fishery could be made very profitable. Formerly the 
natives did all of this fishing, but the Japanese now monopolize it. 
Some of the best grounds are off the coasts of Molokai, and quite a 
fleet of Japanese boats from Honolulu resort to them; they usually 
leave on Monday and return on Friday or Saturday. 
At various places around the islands sponges of a fair quality have 
been picked up on the beaches, where they had been cast up by storms. 
The writer secured a few specimens which had been washed up on the 
beach and found them of an inferior grade, but still marketable. These 
were secured from Oahu and Hawaii. It is probable that but few of 
the better quality of sponges would be washed ashore, as they would 
be too firmly attached to the bottom. 
The bubonic plague broke out in Honolulu in December, 1899, and 
lasted several months. This proved a serious detriment to the sale of 
fresh fishery products while it lasted, as it was thought by many per- 
sons that the disease might be transmitted in this way. 
The native fishermen have a habit, in many instances, of calling 
fishes and other sea animals by different names at various stages in 
their life, also when there is a slight variation in their appearance. In 
the commercial tables these are generally shown under the name applied 
to the adult. In order to prevent confusion and misapprehension 
among the fishermen of the islands and others a list of the commercial 
species has been prepared, showing the names used in the statistical 
tables, and where two or more species have been included under one 
name the others are shown in the list immediately below and are 
slightly indented. The common English name and the scientific name 
are also shown where possible. Only a few of the fishes of the 
Hawaiian Islands are found in the United States, or where there are 
English-speaking fishermen, hence but few of them have received 
