The
clouds this morning contained an angel — always welcome — an
orange mushroom, a lavender-blue-black swirl that looked like a
miniature origin of the cosmos and a shark, replete with hammer head
and dorsal fin.
With
the recent death of a German visitor who had her arm bitten off in
Maui waters, the Star-Advertiser has begun beating “The Jaws”
drum for a hunt, though its editorial euphemistically substituted the
word “culling” for “killing:”
The
practice of shark culling has both opponents and proponents. Critics
question its overall effectiveness, noting the migratory nature of
sharks; and point out that the ocean is the sharks' — not humans' —
domain. Proponents, though, will note that culling could reduce the
number of sharks appearing in near-shore waters, and fewer numbers
lower the potential for encounters.
For
an island state like Hawaii, and as dependent as we are on tourism
and ocean recreation for tourists and residents alike, shark culling
should be on the table of options given this "unprecedented
spike" in attacks here since the start of 2012.
Yeah,
because even though it won't actually have any meaningful effect, it
will look like somebody's doing something — sort of like that silly
water safety video that loops endlessly, unwatched and ignored, at
the Lihue baggage claim.
I'll
never forget standing with longtime North Shore fisherman Bito
Hermosura at the Lumahai overlook when a tourist got out of her car
and asked, with trembling trepidation, “Are there sharks down
there?” Bito didn't miss a beat. “Of course. The ocean is their
home.”
Enter
at your own risk. Still, I can see why the visitor industry doesn't
like it. First we had that spate of drownings, now there's a string
of shark attacks. But when you consider how we regularly disrespect
the ocean with our sewage, pesticides, silt, plastic trash, sonar
exercises, military explosions, boat noise, fuel spills, overfishing,
aquarium collecting and what have you, is it any wonder that every
now and then it exacts a little revenge?
Meanwhile,
a paragraph in an article by Léo
Azambuja
on the Kikiaola harbor sand replenishment project slipped by
unnoticed until Councilman Gary Hooser posted a link on his Facebook page:
The
sand and silt accumulating inside the harbor cannot be used to
replenish the beach, according to [state DOBAR engineer Eric] Yuasa.
He
said a ditch coming from nearby agricultural fields brings pesticides
and heavy metal into the harbor. Chemicals bind easier to fine silt
than to coarser sand, he said, so the silt is unsuitable for beach
nourishment.
But
Yuasa said he would encourage contractors to take it away once it’s
dredged out of the harbor.
So
where would that contaminated silt be taken away to? And just where are those
pesticides and heavy metals coming from? Which ones, exactly, are we
talking about? And how are they impacting the marine environment and
human health?
Those
are the kinds of questions that need answering far more urgently than
the movement of tiger sharks around the Islands.
And
finally, I noticed a letter to the editor today from Dr. Graham
Chelius, a Kekaha
physician who talks about public health concerns that he feels are
more serious than pesticides:
Islandwide,
homes built before 1978 may be contaminated with lead-based paint.
High levels of mercury are in marlin, ahi, ono and other fish caught
right in our waters.
While
I don't think we should ignore pesticide exposure, mercury and lead
paint are very real concerns, especially on the westside, with its
plethora of fishermen and old plantation houses. Camp houses often contain not only lead
paint, but canec, an old-time fiberboard material made from sugar cane pulp
treated with inorganic arsenic compounds as an antitermite agent.
As Dr. Chelius noted, a baby can suffer irreversible
brain damage from eating a chip of lead-based paint the diameter of a
pencil. And as the state DOH warns:
[E]xposure to deteriorating canec should be minimized.
I
got incredibly sick and was diagnosed with heavy metal poisoning
after living for six years in an old house with
cracked and peeling paint that I later learned contained lead. Fine
dust regularly sifted down from cracks in the ceiling, which was made
from canec.
The doctors who diagnosed and treated me said they see quite a bit of
heavy metal toxicity on Kauai, especially among people who eat a lot
of fish and work in the construction industry, where they work with
treated wood and do demolition involving canec.
But
heavy metal bioaccumulation
often goes undiagnosed and untreated because its symptoms –
fatigue, muscle ache, memory loss, depressed immune systems,
digestive problems , insomnia, irritability, nausea — are similar to those caused
by other health conditions.
So while
we're scrutinizing the seed companies and their pesticide load, which we should, let's also spend a little time checking out westside schools and
homes for deteriorating paint and canec, and step up the public
education about mercury in our cherished ahi poke.
Because unless you bleed to death after a shark attack, it's often hard to identify just one cause for illness and death in our chemical-laden modern world.
7 comments:
We need the sharks for tourism control.
Shall i go debate culling your 'ohana too?sick
Our shark population is the result of the two (late 1950's and mid-1970's)State sponsored shark abatement/bounty programs. UH had some involvement in the 1970's program, which was sponsored, funded, and operated by DLNR in conjunction with NOAA. Commercial fishermen were paid a bounty for near shore predator sharks, and paid incentives to bring science parties along and utilize UH system students as seaman.
Tiger sharks are the top reef predator - their preferred prey is a smaller tiger shark, followed by other shark species. Lemon sharks also specialize on eating smaller sharks. Galapagos and Grey reef sharks, white and black tip reef,hammer and scalloped heads, oceanic white tip, mako, and thresher sharks were all caught within a few miles of shore at night. Thousands of sharks were killed.
A live 3'-4' tiger is the best bait to catch a 20 footer.
Today - all those mid and late 1970's shark pups/juveniles who escaped predation by larger sharks are mature and reaching full size. They are the 12' to 22' long tigers prowling the reef drop offs and river mouths.
Think about it. Why are there so many large sharks, and very few small sharks?
More turtles, more sharks.
Another great concern Dr Chelius pointed out is that a lot of girls are continuing to abuse drugs and alcohol while pregnant.
A lot of these girls come from broken homes where drugs and alcohol rule their everyday lives. Some of these girls are pimped out by their parents or care takers.
In one case a now YWCA worker and drug addicted mother pimped out her daughters to the Micronesian Kauai coffee workers. When reported to CPS, CPS threatens complainant.
The article and study in TGI a few weeks ago hides these facts. The all powerful wants to hide the illegal drug industry that destroys Kauai.
The incest and drug addicted baby mommas are a huge hidden problem on Kauai. No talk like that! Shhh shhh! Taboo!
Instead of bringing forth the problems and finding solutions, they'd rather quite the people (set em up/kill em) or hide things (cover up/ disappearence).
One point no one is bringing up is the coming radiation storm that will dominate the Pacific. Fukushima is melting down and no one in Japan has the slightist idea on how to stop it.
Since tuna are nomadic and feed off of indigenous shore species, radiated Ahi and Aku will be coming soon. It's only a matter of when.
Humanity is finally having to face up to all it's "Safe Technology and Science". My dad always said "your day of retribution will come", I think I know what he meant now. I'll have to say Mother Nature has been quite patient with us so far, but somethings gonna happen soon and I don't think it will be pretty.
While we squabble about the obvious the rest of our surrounding world is slowly collapsing. It's just a matter of time. If we get overwhelmed it's to late.
We're almost there. Enjoy your day!
would it really be so bad if there were less sharks?
I mean, I don't want to die as shark food. Plus, it's not like they're doing anyone any good. They eat tuna and other large game fish...it's not like they're helping control the jellyfish population.
They aren't serving any great function in the circle of life that we ourselves don't serve...I say kill all the sharks.
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