356 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
This would, in the first place, necessitate much work by shore 
parties, who would make inquiries along the following lines: 
1. A qualitative and quantitative study of the commercial and shore 
fishes, mollusks, crustaceans, and other aquatic animals and plants. 
Attention would be given to the actual and relative food values and the 
commercial importance of the different species; the important facts in 
their life histories, such as their migrations, spawning time and place, 
food, feeding habits, enemies, and maximum and average size. 
2. The methods, extent, and history of the fisheries would have to 
receive careful attention. The kinds of apparatus used, the manner, 
time, and place of using each, the species taken in each, and the manner 
of caring for and disposing of the catch; the statistics of the fisheries, 
value of each kind of apparatus, as boats, nets, traps, etc.; nature and 
value of shore property; nationality and number of people engaged in 
the fisheries; business relations and contracts between fishermen and 
those by whom employed; quantity and value of each species caught; 
prices paid the fishermen, also those received wholesale and retail; 
changes in methods, extent, and character of the fisheries in historic 
times as shown by records and traditions, particularly since the coming 
of Europeans and Asiatics. 
3. The fishery laws would need special consideration, including an 
account of fishery regulations and legislation from the old system of 
tabu to the present time. 
The possibility of improvement in the methods of taking fish and 
the methods of handling and marketing them should receive careful 
consideration, and the necessity for and possibility of fish-cultural 
operations with reference to species that may be in danger of extine- 
tion or serious diminution, and the introduction of species not native 
to the islands, are questions requiring careful investigation. 
The expedition sailed from San Francisco for Honolulu May 29, and 
the summer and early fall were devoted to work along these lines. 
Preliminary to a proper understanding of the economic phases of 
the fisheries, it is of course necessary that we know just what species 
of fishes and other aquatic animals inhabit or frequent Hawaiian 
waters. A large part of the time of the present expedition was there- 
fore devoted to making collections of the species brought to the market 
by the fishermen and such as could be obtained by the use of seines 
and other means in shallow water along and near the shore. Mr. Cobb 
devoted his entire time to the methods and statistics of the fisheries. 
About 350 species of fishes were obtained, about 70 of them being 
new to science, in addition to about 100 obtained by Dr. Jenkins in 
his expedition of 1889 and only lately described by him. A detailed 
account of the fishes of the islands will be published later, illustrated 
by colored plates taken from fresh and often from living specimens by 
Messrs. Hudson and Baldwin. 
