COMMERCIAL FISHERIES OF THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 481 
it is possible to secure the same thing from his own people. The 
same condition of affairs is said to prevail in other lines of business, 
and a feeling of antagonism has developed on the part of those who 
have been injured by the alleged unfair competition. The Japanese 
fishermen deserve great credit for developing and extending the deep- 
sea fisheries, which the native fishermen had allowed almost to die out; 
but, on the other hand, they do an immense amount of damage by 
destructive, and, in many instances, illegal methods of fishing with 
fine-meshed nets. 
One of the results of the rapidly increasing prejudice against the 
Japanese fishermen was the effort in the summer of 1902 to prevent 
them, as aliens, from landing their catch without paying a customs 
duty of 1 cent per pound. The collector of customs at Honolulu 
supported this contention, but on appeal the Treasury Department 
refused to sustain the collector’s action. 
The Russian-Japanese war had the effect of considerably lightening 
Japanese competition, as large numbers of the fishermen of that 
nationality returned to Japan to enter the army. Over 90 of them 
left Honolulu for this purpose on one steamer in March, 1904. 
THE FISHERIES OF HAWAII. 
This, the largest island of the group, is 90 miles in length from 
north to south and 74 miles from east to west, with an area of 4,015 
square miles, which is nearly double that of all the other islands com- 
bined. Geologists claim that this island is the youngest of the group, 
as its internal fires are still unextinguished. It is made up principally 
of three enormous volcanoes, two of which are still active, and both of 
which are larger than any other active volcanoes in the world. Mauna 
Kea, which is 13,825 feet above the sea, is the highest point on the 
island, and Mauna Loa is 13,675 feet in height. Both are snow capped 
throughout the year. The coast line of the island is regular, some- 
times precipitous, and is badly handicapped for commerce by the lack 
of good harbors. Hilo Bay, on the eastern or windward side, is a 
rather open harbor, partly protected from the ocean by a sunken coral 
reef. There is no other harbor on the eastern side, but merely 
Jandings, which can be made only in fairly clear weather. On the 
westward side are the small open bays of Kailua and Kealakekua, 
which are safe so long as the winds prevail from the westward, which 
they do for nine months of the year. On the northwest is the open 
harbor called Kawaihae Bay, which is safe about half of the year. 
The lack of good harbors has always been a serious drawback to the 
fisheries of this island, as the fishermen are compelled to concentrate 
at a few places and dare not go far out in their small boats lest they 
be caught in storms or be blown off the coast. 
F. C. 190431 
