Proposed Hawaii Whale Sanctuary: All Sides Spout Off

Hawaii’s largest visitors, the humpback whales, are swimming into island waters on their annual pilgrimage from the north, oblivious to a debate among their land-bound neighbors on a proposed ocean sanctuary for the sea mammals.

The idea of christening waters around the Hawaiian Islands as the nation’s first humpback whale preserve may be on the verge of becoming a reality--to the cheers of environmentalists and the howls of boaters and fishermen.

The plan has survived years of local opposition, acrimonious public hearings, protests from state politicians, and, most recently, a strategic move by a skeptical governor.

Whale researcher James Hudnall first proposed a refuge for the spouting behemoths in waters around the island of Maui seven years ago. He remains the project’s strongest proponent.

“A whale sanctuary is particularly appropriate in Hawaii waters, where we have one of the great habitats in which whales mate, calve and nurse their young,” he said.

But the idea has been consistently fought by Hawaii fishermen, boaters and other water sports enthusiasts, who fear that it will eventually add another layer of regulation to their livelihoods and recreation.

“When the federal bureaucracy gets involved in management, there are more and more conditions placed upon it because of demands by environmentalists,” said Wadsworth Yee, chairman of the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council.

Yee predicted a court battle between the state and federal governments as a last-ditch effort to hold up at least part of the project.

The humpback whales of the North Pacific--until recently estimated at 800 but now known to number more than 1,500--begin arriving in the warm waters off the Hawaiian Islands each fall. Lone scouts lead the way for the rest of the herd.

There, especially in the waters around Maui, they spend the winter mating, calving and raising their young. When spring comes, they begin the return trip to waters south of Alaska.

During their Hawaiian vacation, the humpbacks are monitored by researchers, stalked by camera fans and ogled by hordes of tourists aboard passing cruise ships. The increasing fascination with the arrival of the whales has worried some.

“You’ve got whale watchers, researchers, Hobie cats, windsurfers, para-sailors, jet skis, kayaks and commercial fishing vessels all out there,” said Ray Sautter of the National Marine Fisheries Service, which enforces the laws against whale harassment and would police the sanctuary.

“There are more people out on the same amount of water,” he said.

More Than 60 Feet Long

The whales, which can grow more than 60 feet long and weigh in excess of 30 tons, can be easily seen cavorting offshore.

Among the most animated and acrobatic of whales, humpbacks may slap a flipper or tail against the water with a loud report or enthrall visitors by leaping almost entirely clear of the water.

Humpbacks are probably most famous for their haunting, ethereal “song,” a complex pattern of sounds that they emit in episodes lasting from 6 to 40 minutes.

Researchers have reported that all the whales in a given population sing the same song each year. When the whales return the following year, the song has been modified slightly, and the new version has again been learned by all members of the herd.

Disagree on Methods

Nearly everyone agrees that the magnificent sea creatures should be protected. But they disagree on the methods to be used, especially if those methods involve the federal government.

Both supporters and opponents say that the sanctuary would add little to the protection of whales. The humpbacks, as a marine mammal and an endangered species, already are protected from harassment under federal law.

Boaters, as well as swimmers and divers, are not allowed to approach within 100 yards of the whales in most waters and within 300 yards in areas where the whales calve. Airplanes may not fly any lower than 1,000 feet over the ocean animals.

Hudnall said he envisioned the sanctuary as a way to educate people and make them more aware of the plight facing the whale.

“We already have very strong laws on whale harassment,” Hudnall said. “There was never any feeling on anyone’s part that you would see a new structure of regulation.”

That, however, is precisely what many Maui water-users are afraid of. Some even fear that the idea would lead to a ban on boating activities during the whale season.

“There’s been talk of no boating in 100-fathom waters during the time the whales are here,” one commercial fisherman said. “That takes you out 20 or 30 miles. I have lobster traps in 10 to 30 fathoms, and it would completely wipe out my livelihood.”

Opponents insist there is no assurance that new regulations will not be imposed once the sanctuary designation is in place. They point out that there already are fishing restrictions in other whale sanctuaries, such as those off the coast of California.

Fear Restrictions

Some whale researchers have even come out against the idea, fearing that the federal government would impose restrictions on their activities.

“It’s going to add five more layers of regulation” said Greg Kaufman of the Pacific Whale Foundation. “Once we get a permit, we’re going to have to ask the sanctuary people if we can work in their sanctuary.”

Local opponents have become frustrated by a feeling that Hawaii’s concerns are being lost in the pro-sanctuary campaign being waged by environmentalists across the nation.

“One kid in Iowa is worth a dozen Hawaiian fishermen,” Kaufman said.

Opponents took their fears to lawmakers and the governor, who was advised by the state House of Representatives and the majority of his own study commission not to allow the sanctuary.

Removes State Waters

The lobbying effort paid off when Gov. George Ariyoshi removed all waters under state control--those out to the three-mile limit--from inclusion in any whale sanctuary.

The federal government, however, has pressed forward with plans to declare a humpback whale sanctuary in waters under federal jurisdiction--from three miles to 200 miles from the islands.

That plan is now working its way through a maze of departments.

Approval must be obtained from Congress and several federal departments, including Interior and Transportation, said Bill Thomas of the Commerce Department’s Office of Oceanic and Coastal Resource Management in Washington.

He said it is impossible to forecast when final action on the proposal might occur, noting that several previous deadlines have “come and gone.”

No Whale Sanctuaries

Thomas said there are no whale sanctuaries off U.S. waters, although such protected areas have been established by Mexico and Argentina. U.S. sanctuaries have been set up for the protection of general marine life, he said.

They include a sanctuary at Key Largo, Fla., and one off American Samoa--where scientists are trying to rejuvenate a coral reef devastated by voracious starfish.

The federal sanctuary proposed for Hawaii would include a shallow area called Penguin Banks that is frequented by whales.

The area is claimed by the state as a submerged portion of the island of Molokai. Yee said he thinks the state may go to court to keep it out of sanctuary boundaries.

The long controversy has sparked a feud between researchers and boaters, each of whom accuse the other of harassing the whales.

“I haven’t seen much harassment, other than researchers in their little Zodiacs (powered rubber rafts),” one Lahaina charter boat captain said. “They zip right up to them and jump into the water with their cameras. It kind of spooks the whales.”

Researchers, on the other hand, tell stories of small boats driving up on the backs of whales or helicopters hovering low enough to drench their landing gear in an animal’s spouting water.

“People who use the water every day, who fish and so forth, don’t do that,” Kaufman said. “It’s more the weekend water user or tourist who may not realize that what they are doing is a crime punishable by a $20,000 fine and one year in jail.”

Whales May Leave

The fear among all those concerned is that the whales, if they become sufficiently irritated, may decide to go elsewhere. And there is some evidence that humpbacks can switch their gathering places.

Some researchers say the whales have been moving away from the areas of heavy water use, such as near the resorts of Maui. A large herd that cruised the north shore of Oahu in the 1940s is now gone.

On the other hand, more whales have been showing up off the island of Kauai, about 200 miles away. Until recently, waters near the island were devoid of whales.

There is no word in the Hawaiian language for humpback whale, suggesting that the whales have not historically been part of the archipelago’s marine life and could again become scarce.

Maui residents, even those opposed to a sanctuary, insist that they want the whales to remain in the area. And they say that the animals return that hospitality with an affection of their own.