HONOLULU, Hawaii — Alarmed because state and federal laws prohibiting feeding sharks within 200 miles of shore are not being enforced, Rep. Gene Ward has launched a task force to shut down Hawaii's defiant shark feeders. Ward vowed to take his campaign state-wide after successfully blocking a shark feeding tour operator from setting up a shop in Hawaii Kai a couple of months ago. In mid-April at a town hall meeting organized by Ward, angry East Honolulu residents expressed unanimous opposition to shark tour owner, Iolani Lewis, and made it clear they were not buying his dive industry-endorsed "educational" spin on the sordid and illegal business of shark feeding. To make sure Lewis got the message and fully understood how local residents felt about his plan to line his pockets selling shark feeding tours, authorities canceled the marina slip and docking permit for his "Snoopy 5" boat saying they did not want to endanger other water sports tenants. The Hawaii Kai Marina Association's Board of Directors hammered the nail down by voting unanimously 15-0 to not allow a shark feeding tour boat to operate from, in, or around the marina's waters. The grassroots community-based decisions effectively protect Maunalua Bay from shark feeding profiteers who endanger marine wildlife and compromise public safety by conditioning sharks to associate people with food. Ward is now going after two commercial shark feeding tour operators, Hawaii Shark Encounters and North Shore Shark Adventures, that feed sharks just three miles off Oahu's north shore. Although the "extreme sports" dare-devil owner of Hawaii Shark Encounters, Jimmy Hall, died in a foolhardy YouTube video stunt two years ago, his girlfriend, Stephanie Brendl, continues to flout the law and sell shark feeding tours that endanger sharks, local residents and Hawaii visitors. | 
