The “Bird Rush” and Japanese Advance into the Pacific Ocean

Abstract

The Japanese advance into the Pacific continued to extend its scope reaching as far as the North-western Hawaiian Islands around 1897. The author characterizes the rapid Japanese advance into the Pacific as a “Bird Rush” in contradistinction to J. M. Skaggs’ “Guano Rush.” Japanese fishing boats converged around the North-western Hawaiian Islands where there was a treasure trove of birds, and continued to capture them. The USA feared that the Japanese living on uninhabited islands in the region could be construed as a prior occupation under international law, possibly leading to territorial issues. Following a caution from the USA, the Japanese government issued a warning to Japanese fishing companies to keep out of the region. Nonetheless, bird poaching by the Japanese continued. To prevent the Japanese from entering US territory, US President Theodore Roosevelt promulgated a Bird Protection Act and established the Hawaiian Islands Bird Reservation in 1909.