MAUI, Hawaii — In another setback for the dive industry and its small, but strident contingent of profit-driven shark feeders, the Maui County Council unanimously passed a bill banning shark feeding tour operators on the islands of Maui, Molokai, Lanai and Kahoolawe. The new bill, which will be signed into law by Maui Mayor Charmaine Tavares, effectively prohibits all marketing and sales of tours that solicit residents and visitors to participate in shark feeding activities. As in Florida, where the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FFWCC) unanimously banned shark feeding in 2001, the Maui County Council found manipulating and provoking sharks with food has negative impacts on sharks because it changes their natural behavior and disrupts the natural balance of the ocean ecosystem. It also found that shark feeding poses a threat to swimmers, surfers and other ocean users because it conditions sharks to associate people with food and diminishes their natural wariness of humans. The council also found that shark feeding is disrespectful of native Hawaiians who consider sharks sacred and are offended by profit-driven dive operators who exploit them to entertain tourists. The bill specifically states that the council found shark feeding to be 1) disrespectful of Hawaiian culture, 2) a public safety concern for swimmers, surfers and other ocean users and 3) disruptive of ocean ecology and Maui's natural environment. Citizens, scientists, shark conservationists, eco groups, animal rights activists, community organizations, canoe clubs, surfing associations, boating clubs and individual marine recreation enthusiasts joined elected officials and native Hawaiians celebrating the ban on shark feeding. Among the nearly 50 groups supporting the shark feeding ban were several renowned and respected international organizations including the Humane Society, the Sierra Club and the Surfrider Foundation. Among local groups and individuals that successfully campaigned for the ban were Safe Waters for Hawaii, Maui County Councilman Wayne Nishiki, Oswald Stender and Walter Heen of the Trustee Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Dr. Carlos Andrade - Director of the Center of Hawaiian Studies at the University of Hawaii and former Governor of the State of Hawaii, Ben Cayetano. Dive industry intimidation Notably absent from the list of shark feeding ban supporters were Maui's dive shops, dive safety associations and dive industry-related eco groups. Although there are no shark tour operators in Maui and most local dive company owners oppose shark feeding, they fear that expressing support for the full protection of sharks will result in dive industry retaliation that could damage or destroy their businesses. "The fact that shark feeding makes big bucks is a no-brainer but that doesn't make it right and here in Maui we (dive operators) all pretty much agree that shark feeding is wrong and that's why nobody's doing it," said one dive boat owner who asked not to be identified. "But the dive industry works like the mafia," he added. "It's all about the big bucks so if you stick your neck out in opposition to shark feeding or dolphin parks or cruise ship tourism or anything else that makes money, you're likely to get your head cut off." Sustainable and responsible tourism Maui's ban on the business of manipulating and provoking sharks to perform for tourists, while aimed primarily at concerns about the environment, public safety and native Hawaiian culture, also reflects a keen understanding of the first rule of sustainable and responsible tourism: always protect the environment by deferring resource management decisions to local communities because the folks living next to a resource are the ones best suited to protect it. "By rejecting the inflammatory rhetoric and increasingly strident appeals to fear and greed -- 'MAUI'S MILLION DOLLAR MISTAKE BLAH, BLAH' -- by dive industry shills unable to refute overwhelming scientific evidence that shark feeding is bad for sharks and people, the Maui County Council got it exactly right", said CDNN editor, Lamar Bennington. "They correctly deferred to the will of ordinary, honest folks who love the ocean, genuinely care about public safety and conservation, and are understandably alarmed and rightly outraged by irresponsible dive industry business schemes that rely on eco-unfriendly manipulation and provocation of marine apex predators," Bennington added. While the shark feeding ban represents another defeat for the dive industry and its profit-driven shark feeders ("HEY, IF IT MAKES MONEY, IT'S GOTTA BE GOOD"), it's a win-win-win result for Maui. Most importantly, it's a big win for Maui's sharks, who get to be sharks instead of provoked stunt performers. It's also a big win for Maui's ocean loving residents and visitors because they can swim and surf and dive with sharks that are naturally wary of humans rather than "in your face" sharks that have been manipulated by shark feeders to associate humans with food. And Maui's tourism industry wins because the ban sends a clear, unequivocal message from Maui islanders to travelers everywhere that with responsible community-based stewardship of its extraordinary natural resources, Maui's uniquely attractive natural beauty trumps the lowest common denominator, TV-driven (Shark Week) tourism fads and vile entertainment gimmicks so common and so disappointing at so many other less attractive holiday destinations.
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