The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1902-04-21
FEW FISH
ARE FOUND
Albatr oss Loses
Dredges on
Rocks.
SEA LIFE SCANT
ROUND MOLOKAl
Most That is Found Of Use Only
to Scientists-PIateau Be-
meath the Waves.

m rocky bottom are two things
"A which are most thoroughly i'm
pressed upon the minds OF officers and
scientists on board the Fish Commits
sion steamer AIbatross. which returned
to the harbor Saturday from a two
weeks cruise. The little ship has now
practically completed investigation of
the Molokai coast and has done some
Eood work of Lanai and leeward Maui.
The verdict of all who have heen
watching the developments OF the
dredging and seining operations is that
the fishes are scarce. While the speci-
mems of life found by the dredges are
most interesting from a scientific point
of view. the scarcity OF food fishes. in
the deep waters so far traversed. Is all
the more remarkable. in that II is in
contrast with the abundance which is
noted In waters Of the same latitude in
other parts OF the world In the Allan
tic, about the Bahamas. Cuba. Porto
Rico. the Florida coast and In the Gulf.
at about the same position. the sea life
Is plentiful On the coast OF Southern
california, Lower California and Cen
trail America. down to Panama even,
the fishes are abundant and the many
forms OF life interesting and OF great
commercial Importance.
In the words OF the men OF the Alba
tross. there are no fish to be found In
the deep waters Off MolOkai and Lanai.
The dredges time and again come up
with diminutive specimens. small
number of shell fish. which furnish ex-
ceIIent fish food. but there are found
very few edible fish. Scientifically the
Investigations Will be full OF interest.
DIT. Gilbert. at the head OF the scientific
end of the expedition. has jars filed
with specimens. Many are new, others
are rare, some are remarkable and all
are interesting, but this is from the
biological view point and while the in
vestigationS are not sufficiently far ad-
Vanced to admit of any conclusions be-
ing drawn by the men who viii be
charged with the commercial investiga- !
tiOns, the outlook Is that no one would
be tempted to buy steam fishing vessels
for this trade on the strength OF what
ha. been seen so far. The tracing of
IL . work which will not be completed
during the cruise. The little ship does
not carry a sufficiently extensive IL |
brary to admit of the absolute identifi- |
cation of all the finny things so far
found, or in fact OF some of those ex-
ceeaIngly rare specimens which. snake |
like have no fins at all, or frog-like. |
seem 70 have two legs. This work viii
require months of labor where the Ii |
braries containing the results OF prev
ious deep sea work, not only in Englsh
but In French, German. Italian and
Spanish are available. DR.. Gilbert puts
il that there promises TO be the very /
highest scientific value to the work so
far done. as the preserved specimens
are In many Instances unique.
The scarcity of fish is a matter OF
wonder on all sides. Capt Thomas OF
the AIbatrOss said when he first started
out from here he was told he would
find large fleets OF sampans. both from
here and from Maui. of Kaunakakai
He saw Just two. He was told it was
. mistake. that the boats would be dis
out to windward. But on that
side of the island only one vessel was
seen and that might or might not have
hem a fishing ship. The failure 10 dis
cover any large number OF good fishes
IN the deep seas caused some short IN
about Napili bay. DIR.
Gilbert went in shore with his water
GLASS and was rowed along for a great
distance. The glass enables the inves-
tigator to keep I'm touch with every
thing down to say fifty feet For hum
drrds Of yards. he said yesterday. there
vouId not be a single fish cross the
n-Id OF the water glass. This was
very disappointing. as Il seemed to in
dic.te that there would be little found
outside the reef II there was practically
nothing inside. and subsequent investi-
Eations proved the truth OF this con-
lecture.
Another thing which has caused
much astonishment among the men
rhs have seen fishing IN so many parts
o: th- world is the tremendous amount
Ot preparation which seems condition
Precedent 20 fish catching here As
Cspt. Thomas puts It, of Maui the hsh-l