450 



REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 



Comparative table showing the extent of the fisheries of the Hawaiian Islands in 

 1900 and isb,?— Continued." 



PRODUCTS. 



VALUE OF PRODUCTS. 



IMPORTATION OF FISHERY PRODUCTS. 



With the exception of a small portion of the white population, the 

 inhabitants of the Hawaiian Islands are great consumers of fishery 

 products. The domestic fisheries at present are totallj'^ inadequate to 

 the demand, and as a result enormous quantities of fresh, canned, 

 salted, smoked, dried, and pickled fishery products are imported each 

 year. Owing to the unusual admixture of races, the imports are 

 very diverse. Dried abalone, cuttlefish, oysters, seaweed, and shrimp 

 are consumed b}^ the Japanese and Chinese; dried and salted cod, had- 

 dock, hake, and pollock by the Portuguese and Porto Ricans, and sal- 

 mon by the whites and natives. 



The United States has always furnished more goods than any other 

 country, but since the annexation of the islands, June 14, 1900, this 

 has become domestic traffic, and, no records having been kept at the 

 custom-house of the receipts from the mainland, it is impossible to 

 show in figures the immense preponderance of this part of the trade. 

 According to official data, during 1897, 1898, and 1899 the United 

 States furnished almost two-thirds of the imports, and, judging from 

 the statements of importers and others well informed, this proportion 

 has been ver}^ radically increased since the annexation. As the United 

 States tarifl' law replaced that of the late Hawaiian Republic, and was 

 higher than the latter, foreign products were under a greater dis- 

 advantage in competing with goods from the mainland than was the 

 case under the provisions of the reciprocity treaty. 



