THE FISHERIES AND FISHING LAWS OF HAWAII. 373 
legislature? The present commission desires to express no opinion on 
this large question of national policy. It is proper, however, to state 
this fact: With the present Territorial legislature it is apparently 
wholly impossible to pass any kind of statute for the protection of the 
fisheries. With the present laws governing suffrage there is no pros- 
pect of any change in this regard. 
The chief argument used against protective laws is the desire of the 
Hawaiian people to eat little fishes raw. Of these little fishes thus 
eaten, one or two, called ‘*nehu,” never grow large. On the other 
hand, it may be urged that the nehu is an important food of larger 
fishes; that the market value of all which are taken is insignificant, and 
that the young of the mullet and other fishes of real value are taken 
and eaten with the nehu. 
INTRODUCTION OF ADDITIONAL SPECIES OF FISHES, ETC. 
The fresh waters of the Hawaiian Islands are too limited in impor- 
tance to justify experiments in acclimatization. The chief streams are 
on the island of Kauai. The only native fishes in any of the streams 
are different species of gobies, known collectively as ‘‘oopu.” These 
have some value as food, but are not highly esteemed. 
Although the waters adjacent to the islands teem with fishes and 
other denizens of the sea, numerous efforts have been made to introduce 
additional species. Among the principal species so far introduced are 
the following: 
From China and Japan.—Gold-tish (Carassius auratus), china-tish 
( Ophiocephalus), a species of cat-fish (Macropternotus maqur), and one 
or more species of frogs. 
From the United States.—Brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis), black 
bass (probably J/icropterus salmoides), cat-tish (Ameiurus nebulosus), 
carp (Cyprinus carpio), the bullfrog (Rana cateshiana), and terrapin. 
In 1876 some salmon and trout eggs were sent to parties in Honolulu in 
exchange for 100 awa; there is no record of what became of these eggs. 
The gold-fish and frogs have thrived very well and are now to be 
found on most of the islands. At Hilo the frogs are so abundant that 
they have become an article of sale. On the island of Kauai they 
have been found especially useful in destroying the fluke, /asc7ola 
hepatica, which works considerable damage to the cattle. They have 
also assisted very materially in thinning out some of the noxious 
insects which have been introduced. 
The china-fish is to be found in numbers in the vicinity of Honolulu 
alone, and is raised in the irrigation ditches and fresh-water ponds. 
The china-fish and gold-fish are generally sold alive to the Chinese. 
The rivers of the islands are, in nearly every instance, small moun- 
‘tain streams, which become torrents in the wet season and a series of 
pools, connected by slender rivulets, during the dry season. ‘Trout do 
not thrive under such conditions, and it is a waste of time to’ attempt 
