It’s been interesting to watch the reporting of the Hawaii Kai community’s reaction to news of a shark tour operator’s plan to start up tours in the bay.

News stories noted a state law passed in 2002 prohibiting feeding of sharks, which was intended to put a major crimp in shark tour operations. It makes the practice of attracting sharks to the tour area by feeding them illegal in state waters, which extend out three miles.

The law means that the operation would be illegal within three miles of shore, but beyond point that would be outside the reach of the state’s prohibition.

But a federal passed in 2006, which extends the ban on shark feeding into federal waters beyond the three-mile limit, went largely unreported, despite the fact that a quick online search about Hawaii shark tours quickly turned up links to a rule against shark feeding passed by the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council in 2006.

A phone call to Westpac confirmed that the provision became law as part of the 2006 Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.

Section 317 Shark Feeding 16 USC 1866:

“Except to the extent determined by the Secretary, or under State law, as presenting no public health hazard or safety risk, or when conducted as part of a research program funded in whole or in part by appropriated funds, it is unlawful to introduce, or attempt to introduce, food or any other substance into the water to attract sharks for any purpose other than to harvest sharks within the Exclusive Economic Zone seaward of the State of Hawaii and of the Commonwealths, territories, and possessions of the United States in the Pacific Ocean Area.”

The only reference to the federal law that I’ve seen in local reporting is in Leila Fujimori’s story in today’s Star-Bulletin, reporting on a mention of the law during a community meeting last night.

[Thanks to a reader for letting me know that KGMB reported the federal law angle last night as well.]

The Advertiser story reporting that the Hawaii Kai shark tour plan has been dropped again failed to note the federal statute.

The state Department of Land and Natural Resources would have no jurisdiction over the shark-feeding venture as proposed because it would have operated out of a private marina and fed sharks three miles from shore, outside state-controlled waters, said DLNR spokeswoman Deborah Ward.

“If they do operate by chumming or feeding sharks, it’s illegal within state waters but outside of three miles it’s not illegal under state law,” she said.

I think one of the roles of the news media is to bring some clarification to these sorts of community issues, not simply to report what opposing sides say about an issue. But the “he said-she said” reporting style prevalent in daily news just didn’t catch that pesky federal law that might have made all the heated public rhetoric unnecessary.

Of course, the federal statute also raises the obvious question of how shark tours are operating on the North Shore. If they feed the sharks, they would appear to be illegal. But how they are to be enforced isn’t exactly clear. You can’t just call the cops if you’re more than three miles offshore.

I put the question of enforcement responsibility to Sylvia Spalding, communications officer for Westpac:

As far as we can ascertain it is the US Coast Guard that is on the water and observes the action (i.e., shark feeding). If they think there’s an infraction they write a report to National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Office of Law Enforcement (OLE). The NMFS OLE lawyers review the incident and decide if there’s been an infraction.

That’s as far as I’ve gotten.

And now the sky is lighting up in the east. Time to get walking so that we can watch the sunrise.

I’ll complete today’s entry, including photos for Feline Friday, when we get back.