The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-01-04
PROTECTIVE FISH.

The steps taken yesterday to form a
society for the protection of the Island
fisheries will result in bills that the
T legislature ought in the interests OF
the public welfare, to pass. There IS
a certain prejudice among native Ha-
waiians against any limitation being
nut upon the industry of fishing; but
il is one which, we think, can be dis
pelled by arguments based on certain
circumstances which the Hawaiians
know to exist but may not now under
stand.
The Hawaiian of the poorer class OBJ
iects to protective laws because he
wants plenty of fish to eat But, as ne
should be taught, that is precisely the
reason why such laws should be en-
acted. Fish are getting scarcer ana
dearer and unless something is done to
save their young from the mosquito
mesh net they will become the luxury
of the rich, while the native will have
to go without. To make an abundant
supply of fish the little ones must have
a chance to grow. They come into the
shallow waters at certain time OF the
year to escape their deep-sea enemies
and get a show for their. lives If let
alone they will, in a few months, grow
big enough to adorn a platter: but in
running away from the voracious for
ayers of the ocean they encounter a
more dangerous monster in the small
mesh net. These nets are placed at the
mouths of all the streams and estuaries
and they capture indefinite swarns of
ocean minnows. Natives and Japanese
like to eat such dainties; so indeed do
white people who find in them a substi-
tute for the white bait of Greenwich
and the Small frv'' of San Francisco.
Nevertheless it is taking bite and de-
stroying prospective pound or three
pounds: and the practice kept up in
definitely naturally results in the ex-
tinction of our fisheries. Hawaiian
fishing banks are few; they TEEN with
sharks and other finny pira ties: and be-
tween these enemies and the destruc-
tive nets, the cleaning out of our food
fish resources becomes only a matter of
tins
The Legislature will have within its
power the chance to make mullet and
other piscatory edibles so plentiful and
cheap that any native, however poor,
may have his fill. A million would be
a low estimate of the number of good
fish that might be saved for use in the
latter part of 1901 by suspension of
fishing with small nets during next
month and the two months following
Perhaps ten million small fry might be
saved. There seems to be no way of
estimating the myriads of little fish
which appear in the bays during March
and which are raided upon day and
night by a multitude OF fish-seekers
They are beyond computations But
how much better it would be for the
public if these multitudes were allowed
to grow. It takes five hundred of them
now to make pound; if left alone each
OF them that survived the voracity of
other fish would weigh that much in
nine months time. See how quickly
this would repopulate the sea banks
and reward the fishermen!
To pass a law prohibiting the small
mesh net would be, therefore. an i'm
portant legislative service to the COM
mon people. 1t might fairly be supple
mented by an Act, such as Secretary
Cooper suggests, creating a fish hatch
cry on the plan of that which. in Cali
fornia, keeps the trout streams of that
state full of speckled beauties. Two
E"9rs ago. while in the wilds of Shasta
comfy, the writer asked a pioneer if
fshing had been better in the old DAYS
Not half so good" he said. lowing
to the hatchery there are ten trout
now where there used to be one" a
visit TO the Sissons hatchery followed
Six million minnews were there ready
to be distributed. They occupied small
troughs or boxes, in a frame building