COMMERCIAL FISHERIES OF THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 
757 
Fresh fish is also brought to Honolulu from San Francisco in the cold-storage 
rooms of the regular steamers. Until last year all of this fresh fish came from 
Victoria in the Canadian vessels, as the San Francisco steamers had no cold-storage 
rooms. 
During 1900 the following products (not shown in the wholesale table) were 
retailed in a fresh state in Honolulu: 
Pounds, j Pounds. 
Cod, herring, smelt, and shad 1,323 Salmon trout 312 
Flounder 2,270 Sea bass 671 
Halibut 35,880 Sole 606 
Salmon 27, 793 I Sturgeon 290 
FISHERY IMPORTS. 
As the domestic fisheries have not been sufficiently developed to supply the large 
home demand, great quantities of foreign goods must be imported to make up the 
deficiency. These imports consist principally of salted, smoked, dried, and canned 
goods, and are very diverse, owing to the unusual mixture of population. The 
Chinese and Japanese ‘are the principal consumers of dried abalone, cuttle-fish, 
oysters, seaweed, and shrimp; the dried and salted cod is preferred by the Portu- 
guese and Porto Ricans, while the natives are great lovers of salmon. 
An attempt should be made to introduce the abalone, as it would probably 
thrive well on the rocky reefs and sea walls. 
The raising of sugar is the principal industiy of the islands, and as large 
numbers of laborers are required on the plantations, which are frequently not 
accessible to, markets where fresh fishery products can be obtained, prepared products 
must be supplied. 
The United States has always led in the matter of imports, San Francisco of 
late years being the principal port from which goods were shipped to the islands. 
Previous to the opening of the transcontinental railroads most of the shipments 
came either by vessel to Colon, thence lw rail across the Isthmus of Panama, and by 
vessel from there to the islands, or by means of vessels which came around the 
Horn. Many of the whalers which rendezvoused at the islands previous to 1875 
also brought out considerable cargoes of general merchandise, including cod, 
mackerel, and other products of the New England fisheries, which met with a ready 
sale or barter to the natives and the white inhabitants. 
On January 30, 1875, a reciprocity treaty was concluded between the Hawaiian 
Kingdom and the United States. This treaty went into effect September 1, 1876, 
and was to continue in force for seven years, and for twelve months after notice of 
its termination. By its terms, in compensation, for the free entry to the United 
States of certain natural products of the islands, notably sugar, the Government 
permitted the free entry, among many other articles, of fishery products of American 
origin. As the same products from other countries were compelled to pay an ad 
valorem duty of 10 per cent, this gave the United States an immense advantage. 
By mutual consent this treaty continued in force until the islands were annexed to 
the United States on June 14, 1900, and proved of great mutual benefit. For some 
few years previous to 1876 the sugar industry of the islands had been languishing on 
account of the duty imposed by the United States on shipments from this source. 
As a result of this depression and the consequent inability of the people to buy 
imported goods, shipments of dried and salted fishery -products dropped off until in 
