500 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 
THE FISHERIES OF MOLOKAIT. 
This island is located midway between Oahu and Maui, and in shape 
is long and narrow, being 40 miles in length and 9 miles in width, 
with an area of 261 square miles. The western half of the island is 
an elevated plain 1,000 feet above the sea, without running water, but 
covered with grass, while at the eastern end are several deep valleys, 
with streams of water during the wet season. The northern coast, 
which is the windward side of the island, is generally precipitous. 
Outside of the leper settlements on the northern side, nearly all of 
the population is located on the southern or leeward side of the island. 
Molokai must have supported a large population at one time, judging 
from the number of fish ponds still to be seen on the south side of the 
island. Many of these are abandoned now, owing to the inability of 
their owners to dispose of the fish to the very small population 
remaining there. There are no harbors anywhere along the coast; 
Pukoo and Kaunakakai, the principal settlements, are very small 
villages. The population of the island, according to the last census, 
was 2,504, of which over 800 were in the leper reservation. 
It is probable that the near future will see a considerable develop- 
ment of the fishery resources of the southern and eastern sides of 
Molokai. The finest fishing banks of the group lie off this part of the 
island, and for some years past they have been much resorted to by 
the line fishermen from Honolulu and Lahaina. Several Honolulu 
concerns, which are now preparing to engage in fishing on these 
banks, will make their fishing headquarters on Molokai, where they 
will use some of the fish ponds for storing their fish until ready to 
ship. One company began operations this year (1904), with headquar- 
ters at Kaunakaki, where it has secured control of several fish ponds. 
It has several small boats engaged directly in fishing on the banks, 
and a small gasoline schooner employed in carrying to Honolulu or 
Lahaina the catch of these, and of such other fishing boats as may 
enter into satisfactory arrangements. The Inter-Island Live Fish 
and Cold Storage Company, of Honolulu, also expects to have an 
important fishing station on the south side of Molokai. 
One of the worst features of the fisheries of Molokai is the tremen- 
dous destruction of young amaama (called by the natives ‘* pua’’) in 
fine-meshed seines. These fish are only an inch or two in length, and 
are eaten by the natives raw or else slightly scorched over an open fire. 
In the early part of 1903 Meyer Brothers secured a number of frogs 
from Hilo and placed them in a fresh-water mountain lake at Kalae. 
They also planted carp in this lake several years ago, but this fish has 
not proved popular as food. 
The poisonous qualities of the odpuhte, or maki maki (7etraodon 
hispidus), have long been known to the Hawaiians, but as the fish 
