HONOLULU, Hawaii (5 Oct 2006) -- Federal officials will meet with Oahu residents tonight to discuss proposals to ban or limit shark feeding tours. The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council will hold the meeting from 6 to 9pm at the Hale'iwa Elementary School cafeteria to solicit comments on various management options including a total ban on shark feeding tours in all federal waters from extending from three to 200 miles off Hawaii. Shark feeding is already illegal in Hawaii, however, one company -- Jimmy Hall's Hawaii Shark Encounter Tours -- has been flouting the law by selling tours to a shark feeding site located just beyond the three-mile limit. The company attracts sharks to its tour boats by repeatedly baiting one specific area off the North Shore of Oahu. Many local residents including scuba divers and surfers have complained that Hawaii Shark Encounter Tours has endangered public safety by increasing the number of sharks in the area, and conditioning them to associate people with food. According to Hale'iwa resident and North Shore Neighborhood Board member Jacob Ng, some residents are "afraid to go in the water because they fear shark attacks." "From what I understand, the shark boat operation throws bait overboard to attract the sharks, and the sharks get accustomed to the boats, to the sound of the motor, and as the shark boat goes back to the harbor, sharks would follow the sound of the boat," Ng told reporters. "There's been a tremendous increase in shark activity in the area." More than just another boob in bunny ears, scuba clown Spencer Slate joined the International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame huckster parade in 2004 by flouting the law with his silly fish feeding antics just beyond Florida state waters. | | Scientific research confirms that shark feeding is bad for people and bad for sharks. Ng said a significant number of local residents want shark feeding tours completely banned. Bad for people, bad for sharks Despite aggressive and often deceitful pro-shark feeding campaigns by several U.S. dive industry marketing behemoths including PADI, DEMA, Scuba Diving Magazine and Project Aware, shark feeding was banned in Hawaii state waters in 2002. Hawaii's law prohibiting feeding of marine wildlife followed a similar ban in Florida where the U.S. dive industry allegedly spent more than $1 million in a failed attempt to protect commercial shark feeders. Shark feeding has also been banned in the Cayman Islands, the Maldives, the Red Sea and other parts of the world where the final decision reflected overwhelming scientific evidence that shark feeding is bad for people and bad for sharks. In addition to documented injuries to participants in commercial shark feeding activities, many more people have been injured swimming, surfing, diving and snorkeling in areas where feedings occur. © CDNN - CYBER DIVER NEWS NETWORKCDNN Related NewsHAWAII - Defiant shark feeders deny endangering public safetyCDNN EDITORIAL - The scientific rationale for Florida's ban on fish feedingCDNN SPECIAL REPORT - Shark Feeding |
