The Dorsal Fin

In what may be some good news to the ears of shark tour operators, the Honolulu Advertiser is reporting that a proposal to ban shark diving operations on O’ahu has been abandoned. The decision was made yesterday (October 7) by the Executive Matters and Legal Affairs Committee following a 7-1 vote against the bill, which was preceded by close to three hours of testimony from those both for and against the ban.

Opponents of shark diving operations suggest that the tours can create a hazard to the safety of the general public. However, there is no scientific evidence to support this claim. According to the article, the committee was advised by attorneys that concrete evidence needed to be provided which supported the safety hazard claim. As of now, only anecdotal evidence exists, according to Todd Apo, council chairman.

The bill was proposed by Charles Djou, the chairman of the Executive Matters Committee. Djou stated that he believed enough evidence was presented in yesterday’s testimony to support the idea that shark tours can pose a threat to the public. Based on the 7-1 vote, it would seem the rest of the council disagreed.

A report on shark diving tours operating in Oahu, Hawaii suggests that the tours do not result in an increase of risk of shark attacks on humans according to an AP article that appeared at MiamiHerald.com. The report is based on a “snap-shot” study over the course of 4 years, which relied primarily on the logbooks of tour operators and reports from boat operators, which I would expect would draw some criticism from those opposed to shark diving (and likely anybody with some knowledge of research design). The article also mentions that federal fisheries are investigating shark tours in Hawaii on the grounds that they are illegally feeding sharks. Based on the results of the study Galapagos sharks and sandbar sharks were the most prevalent sharks encountered by the shark tours involved in the study. The study also concluded that shark tours “do not increase the potential of shark attacks near the shoreline because the boats operate three miles from the coastline and because the chumming they do to attract sharks to cages mimics the decades-old operations of crab fishing vessels in the same area that discard bait from their traps.”
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