Is it common practice for local Hawaiians to catch fish for food? (neighborhood, buy)

[rhbj03]

It seems to me local residents should never need to pay for fish. Is that the case? I am counting on doing so when I move there....

[leilaniguy]

Of course they do. You really need to come here, see for yourself.

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

Originally Posted by rhbj03

It seems to me local residents should never need to pay for fish. Is that the case? I am counting on doing so when I move there....

We live on an island completely surrounded by water. Why would we not fish for our own food?

In my case, I have a neighbor who has a boat and is a fisherman. I let him do all the work -- he brings back the catch, cleans the fish, and sells filets very cheaply in the neighborhood.

[whtviper1]

The question is "is it common practice" well - no. It isn't a common practice although some do it.

[Arktikos]

Originally Posted by whtviper1

The question is "is it common practice" well - no. It isn't a common practice..

I agree, it is not a common practice. Nor is shore fishing very rewarding, from what I can gather.

[rhbj03]

yes i wanted to confirm if it is common, because i did not see too many food fish within 100 meters of shore.

[tdr22]

On Maui, mostly at life-guarded beaches where there are lots of snorkelers. I nearly got slapped in the face by a spear fisher's kill the other day but no worries - the fisher was protected by dragging the bleeding fish 15 feet behind himself.

The folks that fish with the big shore rods, again, at popular snorkel areas but no worries they usually only snag turtles then just cut the lines so the turtle has a nice long line to drag around and it gives the turtles some extra exercise as they try to come up for air with a huge hook stuck in them.

Also enjoy that ciguatera but I'm sure you know the difference between fish that could carry that and those that don't, right?

[hotzcatz]

Shore fishing in Hawaii is a bit different than most fishing methods on the mainland, but folks catch fish from shore. Not as many as there used to be and there's also now concerns with ciguatera.

Here's a fairly definitive article on ciguatera, although it's not an easy read since it's a medical paper: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4244889/

There's been some test kits put out for the poison, but they don't make them anymore because they weren't accurate or some such thing.

Here's some traditional methods mentioned at the end of this page. I don't know how effective they are, though. Ciguatera Fish Poisoning (CFP)

[TwoByFour]

Originally Posted by rhbj03

yes i wanted to confirm if it is common, because i did not see too many food fish within 100 meters of shore.

Where did you look and what do you call "food fish"? Some of those colorful fish you see snorkeling are food fish, like Uhu. People who shore fish using a pole and line on the north shore of Maui can catch ulua, a kind of jack, which can get pretty big.

Hawaiian fish that most people eat in restaurants or buy in a fish market are pelagic (ahi, aku, mahi mahi, ono, opah, ulua, etc.) and deep water bottom fish (hapu and snapper). All those are caught from boats.

[rhbj03]

Originally Posted by TwoByFour

Where did you look and what do you call "food fish"? Some of those colorful fish you see snorkeling are food fish, like Uhu. People who shore fish using a pole and line on the north shore of Maui can catch ulua, a kind of jack, which can get pretty big.

Hawaiian fish that most people eat in restaurants or buy in a fish market are pelagic (ahi, aku, mahi mahi, ono, opah, ulua, etc.) and deep water bottom fish (hapu and snapper). All those are caught from boats.

Hmmm... that's a good question. What is food fish? To me it was just a subconscious concept. Come to think of it, food fish to me seems grey-scale in color, meaty, maybe even plain looking or ugly, as opposed to the colorful, unusually shaped fish.

To me most fish in Finding Nemo is not a food fish. And those are what I saw most in my two near-shore dives in Hawaii.