THE FISHERIES AND FISHING LAWS OF HAWAII. 365 
respective districts off which the same shall have been caught for the half or portion 
so taken; and the minister of the interior shall make known through his agents by 
viva voce proclamation the respective months or seasons of the year during which 
thc said royal fisheries may be used and the said protected fish taken. 
Sec. X. The minister of the interior shall appoint suitable and proper fishing 
agents in the several coast districts of the respective islands to superintend the fish- 
eries aforesaid, to whom he shall from time to time give directions through the 
respective governors in regard to the sale or other disposition of the share of fish 
accruing to the government. 
Sec. XI. It shall be the duty of the agents appointed to exact and receive of all 
fishermen for the use of the royal exchequer during the legalized fishing seasons the 
one-half part or portion of all protected fish taken without the reefs, whether at the 
respective places in the eighth section of this article indicated, or in the channels 
and inclosed seas dividing these islands, or upon the high seas within the marine 
jurisdiction of this country. And if any officer or agent of this government shall 
exact more fish of the people than is in and by this section expressly allowed he 
shall on conviction forfeit his office and be liable to pecuniary fine, in the discretion 
of the court before which he shall have been convicted. 
Sec. XII. It shall be competent for His Majesty by an order in council from time 
to time to set apart any given portion or any definite kind of the said protected fish, 
or any proportional part of the avails therefrom arising for the use of the royal 
palace, to be delivered or paid over to the chamberlain of his household created by 
the third part of this act. : 
Sec. XIII. It shall be incumbent on the minister of the interior to provide, by 
instructions to the respective governors, for the sale and disposal of all fish received 
by the said fishing agents, and to pay the avails thereof to the minister of finance. 
Sec. XIV. If any person shall, in violation of this article, take out of season the 
fish protected by the king’s taboo, or if any person shall, within the free fishing 
seasons, take any of the protected fish without delivering to the agent appointed for 
that purpose the proportion accruing to the royal exchequer, he shall, on conviction, 
forfeit all fish found in his possession, and shall, in addition, pay fivefold for all fish 
thus taken, or he may be put in confinement, at the discretion of the court condemn- 
ing him. 
In 1850, under the heading of ** Malicious injuries.and mischiefs,” 
the ** destroying, cutting, injuring or impairing the usefulness or value 
of any fish net,” etc., and the ** putting of auhuhu or other substance 
deleterious to fish into any lake, pond, stream, or reservoir for the 
purpose of destroying the fish,’ were made misdemeanors. 
As it was found to be a difficult matter to collect the government's 
share, and the fishing agents were oppressing the people, it was 
decided in the following act to give to the people the free use of the 
government fisheries. 
AN ACT granting to the people the rights of piscary now belonging to the government. 
Whereas the fish belonging to the government are productive of little revenue; 
and whereas the piscary rights of the government as managed by the fishing agents 
are a source of trouble and oppression to the people: Therefore, 
Be it enacted by the house of nobles and representatives of the Hawaiian Islands in 
legislative council assembled: Section 1. That thirty days from and after the publication 
of this act in the Elele and Polynesian newspapers all fish belonging to or especially 
set apart for the government shall belong to and be the common property of all the 
people equally; excepting that the two-thirds mentioned in section 8, number 7, 
article 5, chapter 6, part 1, of the ‘‘Act to organize the executive departments,’’ shall 
