488 



EEPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 



THE FISHERIES OF KAHOOLAWE. 



This island, which is 6 miles west of Maui, has an area of 69 square 

 miles and, like all of the others, is quite mountainous, its highest eleva- 

 tion being 1,130 feet above the sea. It is devoted to sheep raising. In 

 1900 the sheep herders emplo3^ed on the island possessed a seine, which 

 they used in catching a supply of fish for their own consumption, but 

 as they had no surplus none were .sold. During the year 1903 five 

 Hawaiians and four Japanese operated two seines and caught 27,100 

 pounds of fish, which they sold at Maui towns for $1,156. 



The following tables show the extent of the fisheries in 1903: 



Table showing the fishermen engaged, and the boats, apparatus, and shore property used 

 in the fisheries of Kahoolawe in 190S. 



Item. 



Fishermen: 

 Hawaiians . 

 Japanese... 



Total. 



Number. Value 



Boats 



Apparatus: 



Seines 



Shore and accessory property . 



Total. 



«225 



250 

 150 



625 



a 670 yards. 

 Table shovnng by apparatus and species the yield of the fisheries of Kahoolawe in 1903. 



Species. 



Akule . 

 Kumu . 

 Laenihi 

 MoS,no. 

 Moi 



Species. 



Mu.... 

 Pu41u 



Seines. 



Pounds. Value 



200 

 100 



27, 100 



1,456 



In January, 1904, Mr. Christian Conradt leased the island, and ex- 

 pects to devote a considerable part of his energv and capital to the 

 development of its fisheries. It is a favorite resort of many schools 

 of choice fishes, and only the lack of good harbors and the refusal of 

 the former lessees to permit outside fishermen on the island, or even 

 to fish in the adjacent waters previous to the abrogation of the fishery 

 rights in the islands, had prevented its development into an excellent 

 fishing station. The present lessee will operate several seines on the 

 beach and will have a net pen anchored in the little bay near the settle- 

 ment, in which the fish will be retained until it is convenient to send 

 them to Malaaea Bay, on Maui, on a gasoline launch. Owing to the 

 number of sharks in the waters surrounding the island, it has been 

 found necessary to have a net constantly stretched across the mouth of 

 the bay to keep them away from the pen. 



