“It will be seen that fisheries are governed here by principles recognized by the common law. There are common fisheries, commons of fisheries, and several fisheries; but owing to the peculiar conditions that have existed here the two latter classes of fisheries exist here to a much larger extent than in other English-speaking countries.”
“Rights of fishery here are, as at common law, subject to rights of navigation. They are subject also to statutory regulation.” (Report of Committee on Fisheries, September 7, 1898; Maly)
“Probably the most peculiar feature of the Hawaiian fisheries is the well-developed principle of the private ownership of the fishes found in the open sea and bays to within a certain prescribed distance from shore.” (Preliminary Report On An Investigation Of The Fishes And Fisheries Of The Hawaiian Islands, 1901; Maly)
“For generations following initial settlement, communities were clustered along the watered, windward (ko‘olau) shores of the Hawaiian Islands. Along the ko‘olau shores, streams flowed and rainfall was abundant, and agricultural production became established.”
“The ko‘olau region also offered sheltered bays from which deep sea fisheries could be easily accessed, and near shore fisheries—enriched by nutrients carried in the fresh water—could be maintained in fishponds and coastal fisheries.”
“It was around these bays that clusters of houses where families lived, could be found. In these early times, the residents generally engaged in subsistence practices in the forms of agriculture and fishing.” (Maly)
The “proprietors of land are entitled to the privilege of fishing upon their own shores as far as the tallest man in the island can wade at low water, and they may exercise that right at all seasons …”
“… but beyond that the sea is tabooed, except at two periods in the year, of six weeks each, during which unlimited fishing is allowed; at these times it is the general employment of the natives, and they cure enough to serve them through the tabooed season.” (Campbell)
“By the Law respecting fisheries, Kamehameha III distributed the fishing grounds and resources between himself, the chiefs and the people of the land. The law granted fisheries from near shore, to those of the deep ocean beyond the sight of land to the common people in general.”
“He also specifically, noted that fisheries on coral reefs fronting various lands were for the landlords (konohiki) and the people who lived on their given lands (ahupua‘a) under the konohiki.” (Maly)
Kamehameha III codified the nearshore fishing rights as: “I. Of free fishing grounds. (No ka noa ana o ke kai): His majesty the King hereby takes the fishing grounds from those who now possess them, from Hawaii to Kauai, and gives one portion of them to the common people, another portion to the land-lords, and a portion he reserves to himself.”
“These are the fishing grounds which his Majesty the King takes and gives to the people; the fishing grounds without the coral reef. viz. the Kilohee grounds, the Luhee ground, the Malolo ground, together with the ocean beyond.”
“But the fishing grounds from the coral reefs to the sea beach are for the landlords, and for the tenants of their several lands, but not for others.”
“But if that species of fish which the landlord selects as his own personal portion, should go onto the grounds which are given to the common people, then that species of fish and that only is taboo.”
“If the squid, then the squid only; or if some other species of fish, that only and not the squid. And thus it shall be in all places all over the islands; if the squid, that only; and if in some other place it be another fish, then that only and not the squid.” (Of free and prohibited fishing grounds, 1839-1841; Maly)
“It was not, however, until 1848 that land tenure was put upon a solid legal basis by the division of the lands between the King, the chiefs, and the tenants, investing the titles in each.”
“Each island was divided into “moku,” or districts. The subdivisions of a “moku” were “ahupuaa,” which is really a unit of land in the islands. The “ahupuaas” are generally long, narrow strips, running from the mountain to the sea, include mountain, the plateau, the shore, and for a certain distance out to sea.”
“The distance into the sea was to the reef, if there was one; if not, to one geographical mile from shore. The owner of this portion of the sea naturally had the right to control it, so far as the fishing was concerned, the same as he did his land.”
“When he placed a tabu on it, branches of the hau tree were planted it all along the shore. The people seeing this token of the tabu respected it.”
“With the removal of the hau branches, indicating that the tabu was lifted, the people fished as they desired, subject only to the tabu days of the priest or alii, when no canoes were allowed to go out upon the water.” (Preliminary Report On An Investigation Of The Fishes And Fisheries Of The Hawaiian Islands, 1901; Maly)
