The Tiger Sharks of Honokohau

    Recently a video went viral on YouTube.  Two young men caught a tiger shark while fishing from the entrance to the harbor at Honokohau.  They took turns landing the shark and making a video of their

It Was Either Him Or Me!

exploits.  Being teenagers out on a lark, they exhibit a fair amount of youthful exuberance, bordering on frivolity.  They weren't alone out there.  This is, after all, the only boat harbor for the Kona Coast.  Other people observed them and a couple captured their deeds on film.  Supposedly the boys released the shark after the battle.

     Shortly after the episode, the boys posted their video on YouTube.  It took a day or two for it to catch fire, but soon enough it had gone viral.  Sandra and  I first heard about the video from Chris Barela, the artist who makes the cool octopus tables (and is now marketing them in his own gallery at the Mauna Lani shops.)  By the next day, the media had weighed in with a wheel barrow full of sanctimonious baloney.  The following evening we heard from my brother, who had seen the affair lambasted on one of the morning news programs.  Chuck came away with the impression

Peter from Jack's Dive Locker  and the Scene of the Crime.

that the tiger shark was a harbor pet!

     It was obvious that we here at Kona Snorkeling blogspot had to weigh in on this nefarious situation, so the next morning, after dropping off our yard debris at the Kona recycling center, the Redoubtable SKG and I made our way another mile north to Honokohau.  There we discovered an office for Jack's Diving Locker.   Jack's is a great company.  They'll take you diving or snorkeling from a boat, are good at reef fish identification and dedicated to protecting the marine environment.   I was lucky to interview Peter, the dive guide who was holding down the fort.  He was kind enough to take Sandra and I outside and show us the spot from which the boys caught the shark...essentially the rip rap at the mouth of the harbor.  He confirmed that the tiger shark was

Sandra Looks Cool in the Park at Honokohau

no pet.  There are a number of tiger sharks that frequent the channel outside the harbor waiting for lunch in the form of fish guts chucked overboard by the returning fishing fleet.  The victim was lured to its doom by chumming, throwing something in the water to attract fish, which is illegal in Hawai'i.

   In fact, the only law the yutes (see My cousin Vinny) broke was chumming.  This transgression got them a stern talking to by Kailua's finest, probably the first time the men in blue have given a rat's pitoot about a fishing infraction.  Proving once again that he power of the box is an amazing thing. 

    Back inside, we talked about Jack's mission statement, how the company had sent representatives, including our new friend Peter, to testify at the hearings held to discuss limiting spear fishing and collecting by scuba divers. Peter told us that a member of Jack's staff had appeared on TV in relation to this incident.  He also pointed out  the parking lot where 18 months ago 500 reef fish were dumped.   The fish were apparently collected for the aquarium trade and inadvertently killed.  This was a source of great interest for about two months.  I think the police got involved in that one, as well, although no one was apprehended.  So make this current incident the second time the men in blue have given a pitoot.   

Perhaps the Boys Were Channeling Richard Dreyfus.

 
     Peter was under the misapprehension that Governor Abercrombie ( he of the killer Orson Welles impersonation) was about to do something about all this fish abuse.  Your humble correspondent, having read the same blurb in the local paper, had followed up on this with a call to the the governor's office.  I had to give Peter some bad news. The edict is no where near the governors desk and Orson's ladylike phone representative cautioned me not to hold my breath.  Unless, of course, I wanted to end up like the fish in the Honokohau parking lot.

     Our last stop out at the boat harbor was the scene of the crime.  As it turns out, if you follow the road out past the parking area for the Dog Beach, it dead ends at a pretty little park on the south cusp of the harbor entrance.  There was a nice breeze blowing and it was delightfully cool under the trees. 

A Small Boat Returns Through the Shark Channel

This would be a great spot for a picnic, shade being a top commodity here in Kona.  In fact, there were two guys in beach chairs taking their morning leisure amid the pleasant leafiness with a view of the boat traffic in the channel.  From the small park, we found a primitive stairway down to the water, the Via Della Vergogna employed  by our young Hemingways.   The morning sun wasn't too hot, so Sandra and I strolled down and sat on the very rocks where we enjoyed the historical perspective.  Not to mention the engaging boat traffic.

   Sitting on the rocks we were brought back to the issue at hand.   To wit, we have the talking heads and morning show hosts all decrying cruelty to animals by teenage boys.  I was a teenage boy once, and I gotta tell ya, peer pressure forced me to turn my back on a  veritable parade of animal cruelty.  Even then, I didn't like it.  But I would be a hypocrite if I denied that,
like many a good German circa 1942, I turned my back and pretend that my friends weren't doing some evil things.  And I probably participated in some things that I regret.  Mea culpa!

    To be intellectually honest, one has to take a step back and think about a few things.  First, sharks aren't the smartest animals in the sea.  The State of Hawai'i does precious little to protect reef fish, virtually all of which are much more highly evolved than sharks.  Do you think those fish you see on the stringer suffered less than the shark?  They were speared, strung and left to suffocate.  Sounds like something that occurred on Calvary.  And collectors, who are apparently more prevalent than we would like to believe, lose a large portion of their catch to disease and suffocation.  In this instance, I'm not talking about depleting our reefs of fish for our viewing enjoyment, just animal cruelty.  If you think those kids were cruel, I believe a parallel accusation could be made against every single fisherman.

    And while we're at it, lets acknowledge that Hawai'i permits endless cruelty to rain down upon the heads

The Octopus Table, Chris Barela Gallery

 of one of our most intelligent sea creatures, the octopus.  Compared to Señor Tiburon, the octopus is Albert Einstein.  Yet I am forced to listen to one of the neighbor children boast about spearing an octopus in the shallows by Kailua pier.  Do you think that cephalopod had a pleasant death?  Please! My new friend Chris Barela tried to explain why adolescents kill animals, in particular our mutual friends the octopus.  His feeling was that it was a way for them to demonstrate their power in a world in which they didn't yet have very much.  And, of course,  in these very Sandwich Islands, ain't nobody gonna say shit.

     At this juncture, I am going to throw a line into the ether in the direction of Paul Allen.  I don't know if Mr. Allen is much of an environmentalist, but he did name his yacht the Octopus.  I'm hoping that someone out there knows Mr. Allen and will let him know that a couple million aimed at octopus preservation in Hawai'i would be appreciated.  You might also tell him about Chris Barela's coffee table which I'm sure would fit into the decor on the namesake vessel!

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Whitebar Surgeonfish, Honokohau, 10 AM

    One of the Jack's Diving Locker associates, a well spoken and deep thinking lady named Patty, pointed out that shark conservation is genuinely important.  I can remember sitting in the college library in 1969
reading about shark fishing and wondering what effect this would have on the ocean.  Worldwide, we have seen a drastic reduction in shark numbers.  Regardless of animal cruelty, it is reasonable that sharks be protected in Hawai'i and around the world.

    The bottom line here, is that the reef animals need to be protected.  I'm willing to play the tourism card.  The cruelty card.  What ever.  The sea creatures are being killed off and they need a friend in the worst possible way.

     Now its time to get down to the nit and the grit.  This blog is dedicated in large part to safe snorkeling and fish identification.  Honokohau, aka The Dog Beach, is an excellent place to take your young family for a swim (as long as they are OK with canines) and a

Heller's Barracuda.  A Regular Only at Honokohau.

major arrow in my quiver full of great places to see unusual fish following a safe shore entry.  The people at Jack's Dive Locker are in an excellent position to tell us about sharks at this site.  Every time we enter on the Dog Beach we swim out to the mooring buoy used by dive boats.  Frequently I will chat with the people on board a boat.  Several times I have swum around the Jack's Dive Locker boat.  They are at this spot every week.

    According to the dive guides at Jack's,  they are now seeing one or more tiger sharks at this dive site at least half the time.  Sometimes the sharks approach them while they are diving.  They say that this has been the case for over a year and the sharks don't make them very nervous.  The dive guides  feel they are at less risk than surface swimmers. The people at Jack's have not heard of a shark attack at Honokohau.  However, everyone agrees that it is safer to avoid shark infested waters at sunrise and sunset and when the water is cloudy.   And make no mistake, every single shark attack in Hawai'i is perpetrated by a tiger shark!

A Dive Boat Moored at the Honokohau Reef

   Last April I went to Honokohau with my nephew Andrew.  Being early birds, we entered the water about 9:30.   Not exactly sunrise, but we were the first ones in the water that morning.   There were few fish until 10:00, when a huge school of Whitebar Surgeon emerged from the reef.  It was a mystical experience.  And we did not see a shark. 

   In the past year Sandra and I have taken other friends swimming there.  Its a great place with a fun entry and a chance to see some unusual fish.  (Heller's Barracuda and Yellowtail Filefish are two specialties of this site.) We have never seen a shark.  Sadly, though, Honokohau must now bear this warning.  I imagine I will go there again, but if you choose to swim there, please be aware:  These are Shark Infested Waters!

jeff