COMMERCIAL FISHERIES OF THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 507 
One of the most important features of the fisheries of Oahu is the 
fish ponds, more of these being used commercially on this island than 
on all the others combined. The fishery rights have also been of 
far greater importance and value than on any of the other islands. 
Both of these subjects have been treated in detail elsewhere in this 
report. 
On October 17, 1908, the settlement of Gilbert Islanders (South Sea 
Islanders) near Honolulu, which formed one of the most picturesque 
features of the fisheries of Oahu, returned to their former home on 
Tarawa. They had been in the Hawaiian islands for a number of 
years, having been brought here by the royal government in the hope 
that enough could be introduced to offset the rapidly lessening number 
of natives, but the project was abandoned after several hundred had 
been introduced. In all 220 of them left, 85 from Lahaina and 135 
from Honolulu, but 3 remaining on the islands. These people were 
quite skillful fishers and were the chief users of baskets, a most effective 
mode of fishing. 
In many of the irrigation ditches for transporting water to the rice 
fields and taro patches, and in the trenches between the rows of Chinese 
bananas, are to be found china-fish, gold-fish and oépu. A few of 
these are sold, but the greater part are consumed by the workers in 
the fields and their families. 
There are a few small fresh-water streams in the island, the 
principal ones being Kaneohe, Nuuanu, Piinaio, and Waiawa. During 
the rainy season these streams are raging torrents, but during the rest 
of the year they are almost dry or form numerous pools. Among the 
indigenous species found in them are the oédpu and opae, and china- 
fish and gold-fish have been introduced. A considerable proportion 
of the catch from these streams is made by people living along the 
banks, who consume the most of it themselves. As the fishing in 
these waters is quite insignificant it has been included in the regular 
tables showing the shore fisheries. 
In 1901 and 1902 some frogs from Hilo, Hawaii, were introduced in 
various places around Honolulu, as it was thought they might aid in 
ridding vegetation of the Japanese beetle, an insect which was rapidly 
becoming a pest. 
The fisheries of Oahu show a most gratifying increase during the 
last few years. In 1900 there were 1,106 persons engaged in fishing, 
while in 1908 there were 1,478 so employed, a gain of 372. The most 
remarkable feature of this is the great increase of Japanese in recent 
years. In 1900 there were 259 Japanese fishing, but in 1903 they had 
increased to 707, a gain of 448. During the same period the number 
of natives so engaged dropped from 654 to 533, a loss of 121. The 
Chinese increased from 173 to 197, and the South Sea Islanders from 
18 to 35. 
