Less than equals, more than comrades: variety of patron–client relations in the Hawaiian longline tuna fishing industry

Abstract

This research focuses on international labor migrants who have the least freedom of movement (as they are confined on fishing boats), but who, paradoxically, are apparently the most well traveled fishermen operating in the Pacific Ocean. This anthropological research aims to analyze the patron–client relationship in Honolulu harbor. The research also examines inter-ethnic entanglements and cultural dynamics within the local Hawaiian fishing community. This article is the second of a two-part series: the first article was based on an ethnographic multi-sited study of longline tuna fishing boats fishing in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.