Sport

    Fishing in Hawaii is both an adventure and a commercial activity. The strategic location and cultural diversity of Hawaii greatly favors fishing in the area. Even though diverse fishing styles in exist Hawaii, certain fishes can only best be fished when specific fishing methods are employed.

Hawaii State is one of the worlds eighteen centers for the coral reef biodiversity. Hawaii, being located in the United States of Americas area that is dominated by reefs, cliffs, very conducive tropical waters for fishing, and various offshore has been a very strategic area that promotes fishing. Participation in cultural tourism has been one of the greatest contributors to the uniqueness of the fishing styles being witnessed in Hawaii. Hosaka (170-193) elaborates that the number of cultural tourists and the participants in cultural activities makes up 64 of the cultural tourists. Sport fishing is encouraged by the availability of the offshore and the chatter boats that facilitates fishing activities. Marlin fishing, tuna fishing, wahoo fishing, and the mahimahi fishing are some of the target fishing styles undertaken in Hawaii. The continued demand for fishing has necessitated the need for people willing to fish to make reservation.

Existing Hawaiian Fishing Styles
Variations in the Fishing Styles
Hawaiian style fishing ranges from the actual fishing to boat riding along the shore in order to view the beautiful water scenery within and outside the actual shore. Games are also played as a form of entertainment in order to attract and maintain tourist in the state. Only families that do not mind experiencing the act of having ocean sprays on their faces and at times the unfriendly smell of fish on the shorts and the die-hard common fishermen are encouraged to participate in the fishing tour activities. The tours entail having very aggressive fishing exercises in order to ensure that the allocated time is fully utilized (Kuykendall 231-310).

Adapted Styles of Fishing
Various parts of the Hawaii tend to have adopted relatively different styles of fishing. In most instances, the style of fishing adopted tends to directly relate to the needs, economic and cultural practices of the people in that specific area. According to a social research undertaken on the Pacific Islands in relation to the various national oceanic and the atmospheric administration in Honolulu, Hawaii, fishing styles such as the ancient hard-line fishing, in Hawaii clearly reflects the very existing cultural practices in the area (Sakamoto 230-250). This is at times varied depending on whether the fishing practices are being undertaken by women or men or the local inhabitants or tourists in the area.

Licensing and Fishing Areas
Various tropical water tips, tactics, and techniques from the boat and banks are vital for fishing in Hawaii. Marine fisheries in Hawaii are categorized under the three geographical areas which include the core Hawaii Island that are mainly inhabited, the Northwestern Hawaii Island, and the Mid-North Pacific Ocean area (Kawaharada 125-126). Both large and small scale commercial fishing is undertaken. Since early 1970s, the U.Ss department of the interior commercial fisheries bureau has hugely been involved in enhancing the survival of Hawaii fishing and controlling the various fishing methods used. Licensing is normally required if commercial fishing is to be practiced. Wildlife refuges, harbors, military bases, and natural area reserves are some of the areas where fishing in Hawaii is prohibited. Keeping of undersized fish that have died is also not allowed under any circumstances.

Past Fishing Styles
Traditional Fishing Styles
Traditional fishing styles in Hawaii were used for a period of about fifty years, which ranges from 1900 to the year 1950. This can best be illustrated through an in-depth analysis of the Samoan styles o fishing. The common fishing techniques used under the traditional modes of fishing include rod and line fishing, gleaning, netting, trapping, boat fishing, and the diving fishing styles. Rules and regulations on where and how to fish and the types of fishes allowed to be caught were in existence. Lagoons were the core facilitators of fishing. Various traditional methods of fishing are still in existence.

Net and Line Fishing
Shorts nets that have eight to ten fathoms that have pegged float lines and stone sinkers are used for fishing in most local areas of Hawaii. Shorts are also used for fishing though with artificially made rock-heaps (Beckley 1883 Sakamoto 230-250). A sinker line is used in ensuring that the net covers even the bottom parts of the artificially made rock heaps. This is also applied when fishing is done using two kinds of mullet. Fish poising, the usage of fishhooks, specialized fishing with the boats, squid lures, and fishing using floats some of the traditional methods of fishing that are still in use in the modern Hawaii.

Fishing Undertaken By Women
Small fishery was mainly done by women and was mainly called figota. This was mainly practiced during the dry period in the new moon in which there were low tides in the forenoons. Women always went to the dried up reef-lagoon with relatively short sticks together with longer ones and a basket that was popularly called Ola (Russ 345-350). This fishing style was practiced by the women poking in the reefs for the small available fishes, regardless of their species, and then killing them by way of either biting them through the eyes or biting them through the neck. Women also used baskets and nets to fish though this was done in very rare instances.

Modern Fishing Styles in Hawaii
Pelagic Fishing
Pelagic fishing method, which integrates other fishing styles, is one of the fishing methodologies. Pelagic fishing method in Hawaii mainly targets fish available in the Pacific Ocean in the area. The major fish types that are caught using this method include the goatfish, kumu fush, moano, the weke-a-oama, moana kea, malu, munu, kala, and the manini fish among others. Under this fishing style, large industrialized fleets, smaller domestic commercialized fleets that are from the Pacific Island, and the artisan domestic fisheries are frequently.  The fishery under these categories mainly targets large and commonly available pelagic species (Hosaka 180-193). The fish under these species include the yellow fin, skipjack, spearfish, blue fish, and the black malin. Sailfish and the pelagic sharks are also common species of fish caught using the pelagic fishing style.

Hawaii Long-line Fleet
Longline fleet fishing method used in Hawaii includes a number of much older wooden long-liners, fiberglass and wood vessels, and much newer long-liners made of steel. These vessels were previously used for fishing in the areas that were off the United States of Americas mainland. This style of fishing mainly targeted primary swordfish while in some instances, yellow fin and the bigeye tunas were the major targets (Sakamoto 230-250). Long line fleets mainly engaged in the fishing of the Longline fisheries, which was practiced throughout the year. The older vessel that was used for fishing using the Hawaii Longline fleet technology measure thirteen to twenty in meters and normally very capable of between two to three weeks trips. On the other hand, Pukui and Samuel (12-67) are of the opinion that the more modern long-liners that are currently in use averages two thousand one hundred and thirty meters long and normally travel for about three months. This style therefore evidently increases the scale of fishing and is mainly practiced on a commercial scale. Fishing using long-liners also engages the use of outfitted water and ice making machines and more modern electronic equipments that facilitate easy navigation, fish location, and communication.
During the employment of the Hawaii long-line fleet fishing style to catch tuna and other fishes, a vessel may be made to travel for about two days from the port for a few hundred kilometers so as to have a higher probability of having a better catch. However, two to ten days traveling of a vessel over a distance of two thousand miles is required if swordfish have to be caught using the Hawaii long-line fleet fishing style. Aquarium Fish Handbook explains the fact that long-line trips normally last for about fourteen to twenty-one days whenever the bigeye and the yellowfin tunas are targeted. To the contrary, efficient pursuance of swordfish demands thirty to forty-five days (Dick 31-82). The Hawaii long liners sell their long-liners in auction through which both export and the local wholesalers that are specialized in doing fish purchase them related businesses buy their shares. In 1993, for instance, Hawaii based fishing long-line fleets landed about 6,000 mt of the swordfish, alone which was about 15 of the total swordfish caught.

Pole and Line Fishing Style
Tuna fishing method in which fish are mainly caught using a fiberglass or a bamboo pole and barbless leathered line is called the pole and line fishing style. This method, even though it is also dominant in Hawaii, was developed by the Polynesians with the aim of catching skipjack tuna through the employment of peal shells meant to act as baits to the fish to be caught. The pearl shell lures that are rigged with various designs of hooks of the hawksbill turtle shells. In most instances, two to three poles are connected to a single lure, which is in turn connected to a much larger boat. It is the sturdy fishermen who handle the boats while automated polling machines are also used in order to speed up the entire fishing process. Hawaii pole and line fishing vessels were built in 1940s and in the 1950s and have an average length of twenty three to thirty meters. The common number of crew that operates in Hawaii under this fishing style comprises of five to seven people. This method targets to catch anchoivies, baitfish, sardines, and the silversides, which are commonly found in the sheltered waters of Keehi lagoon, Kaneohe Bay, and the Pearl Harbor. At night, baitfish is caught using a net of approximated thirty-to-fifty meters long that is set 24m deep in the water. This is different for the daytime baitfish catching which requires about 160 meters long net though only a depth of one meter needs to be covered.

Other Fishing Styles in Hawaii
Mid-water Tuna Lines Fishing
From the research and analysis undertaken, it is evident that various types of fishing do exist. Other fishing methods in existence in Hawaii includes fishing using mid-water tuna lines, the drop stone method, the Palu-Ahi method, the Ika-Shibi method, and the catching of bait around fads. With reference to the size of gear required for fishing, the mid-water line fishing style is the simpler style of catching tunas and other oceanic fishes in the fishing practiced by Hawaiians (Dick 31-82)

Canoe and Small Vessels
Fishing in Hawaii is also done from a canoe or other smaller vessels and relies on the winds direction to influence the direction to be taken by the fishing vessel. The core advantage of this fishing technique, which is however not so common in Hawaii, is that they can easily be maneuvered in order to continuously stay over their fishing spot by use of the motor or a paddle. Shoe fishing methodology, reef fishing, and bay fishing are other styles of fishing used in Hawaii are suitable for fishing due to the nature of Hawaiian shores, climate, and cultural practices in the state.

Troll Fishing
Trolling, a pelagic method of fishing is the most common fishing style in Hawaii (Pukui and Samuel 12-21). This method has continued to be dominant due to its uniqueness and the ability of the people to combine fishing with other popular activities used by both the local Hawaiian inhabitants and the tourists to the area. Full time and part-time commercial and recreational fishing methods are commonly used in troll fishing. In Hawaii, fishing using the troll style mainly targets the blue marlin, dolphin fish, wahoo, the yellow tuna, and the skipjack tuna. Additionally, this fishing style targets to catch spearfish, albacore, sail fish, sharks, and the kawakawa fish both within and outside the Hawaiian territory. Outrigger poles are used with the aim of keeping the fishing lines from tangling. Beckley (183) explains in his Fisheries in Hawaii book that the trolling gear used under this method consists of the lever-drag hand in the cranked reels, stouts-fiberglass poles, and short. Like many other fishing styles used in Hawaii, trollers occasionally use both dead and live baits to entice the fishes being targeted. For instance, small tuna are normally employed in attracting marlins. The marlins are prized catches for the chattered vessels. Mackerel scad, bigeye scad, and strips of the skipjack tuna are more often used whenever a dolphin fish school is encountered in the process of fishing. The vessels being used to fish are always slowed whenever live baits are being used to in order to allow the bait to swim naturally and increase the chances of catching the prey (fish) (Mary and Puak 190-330).

Trollers fish mainly in areas where the water masses converge at slow pace and in places where the topography of the underwater changes dramatically. This is common in areas that are near oceanic seamounts and submarine cliffs. In Hawaii, charter boats targets and catches more marlin of about 40 to 50 by weight while the non-charter commercial trollers targets and catch more yellowfin of about 80 by weight. The available fulltime commercial vessels which are not engaged in Charters does relatively long trips that last for at least eight hours (Pacific Foundation of Whale 2002). The part time recreational and commercial vessels normally fish for about six hours per trip. 70 of the charter boat fishes caught and the 60 of the fish caught during the recreational activities either by the locals or foreign tourists is sold for domestic use  food. These categories of fish include the sail fish, spearfish, kawakawa, albacore, sharks, and the rainbow runner. Sport fishing is mainly undertaken in Hawaiian using the troll fishing style.

Major Areas of Fishing in Hawaii
Kauai
In Hawaii, various types of fishing have been known to be concentrated in specific parts of the state. For instance, Kauai, which has the public Kokee fishing area, offers seasonal unrestricted fishing opportunity while though most shorelines are fully open to public fishing (Pukui and Samuel 23-67).

Maua
Maua is another area in Hawaii that has many fishing activities and it has many fishing boats that offer chatters of deep-sea sport fishing in Maui. According to the UNEP report released in the year 2002, snagging in Hawaii is never prohibited unless if it is done in the specific FMAs, PFAs, MLCDs and few other managed places in Hawaii (UNEP News).

Prohibited Areas
In Hawaii, there are a number of areas in which fishing is either totally prohibited or regulated. In most instances, prohibition is normally done in circumstances where the natural inhabitants seems to be threatened or in areas in which further fishing would totally eradicate the specific species of fish being protected. According to the regulators of the Hawaii fishing industry, the areas in which fishing is prohibited or constantly regulated include military bases, wildlife refuges, harbors, and natural area reserves. The prohibition includes encompasses fishing of the undersized fishes which indeed is never allowed under any circumstances.

The ever increasing demand for fresh tuna fish and other fishes implies that Hawaiian people and the governance authority need to improvise new style of fishing that are environmentally friendly and which would ensure that the available fish species are conserved. The future prospect of some fisheries is so uncertain and thus new better new inventions in the fishing style to be used ensure that the fishes are not totally eradicated (Wichman 12-31). The Hawaiian pole and lines skipjack tuna has witnessed limited market due to the changing of the product from the being canned to fresh tuna due to the 1984 closure of the Honolulu fish cannery. As a tourist attraction activity, some fishing styles in Hawaii are used as forms of sport.